The sun was shining not a cloud in sight as he felt the water splashing in his face, Zuma was riding the best wave he had ever seen, it seemed to never end as he rid along the infinitely long beaches of Adventure Bay. Zuma felt that same warm feeling from before again as he turned around on the surf board, he saw Rocky standing there with him emanating a comfortable heat through the Labs body.

BANG!

Zuma launched out of his bed landing flat on his stomach on the floor of his pup house with his blanket slowly falling down on him.

"Dude!" Zuma yelled as he looked up at the Mixed Breed standing in his doorway with a big grin on his face.

"Hey, it was you who insisted in going to the beach early to 'Catch some gnawly waves.' " Rocky said repeating what the Lab had said yesterday.

"Oh, wight." Zuma said as he picked himself up off the floor.

"Yeah so grab your board and let's go." Rocky said as he stepped out of the pup house, Zuma threw his blanket back on his bed and snatched his pup tag from his nightstand and put it around his neck. He then grabbed his board and walked it out of the pup house in to the hot sun before transforming it.

"Alwight dude let's go." Zuma said as he pulled the board with him in to the vehicle. Rocky hopped in to the passenger seat behind Zuma with his book before they drove off down the driveway of the lookout. Zuma was driving toward the bridge but just before he got on to it he made a turn down a different road.

"No no no, why can't we just take the road?" Rocky said as he knew where this road led.

"Dude it's gonna be fine, calm down. The watew is the fastest way to the beach." Zuma said as they neared the small jump. Rocky didn't respond as he shrunk down in his seat and tightly clutched the book as the small jump was quickly approaching. For a second Rocky felt nothing then came a hard stop followed by a big splash as they landed on the water and continued speeding off toward the beach. Rocky kept his head down to avoid any stray water droplets splashing up from the waves and after what felt like an eternity the hovercraft went silent. He looked out to find it parked a few meters away from the water on the beach.

"Oh finally land." Rocky said as he happily jumped out of the hovercraft.

"You'we weiwd dude." Zuma chuckled as he grabbed his board as Rocky sat down against the rubber skirt of the Hovercraft with his book enjoying the sun.

"Alwight I'll see you in a few dude." Zuma said with a wave as he ran off toward the sea with his board. He laid down on the board and as he paddled out he thought back on the dream he had and that amazing feeling he had while riding, he couldn't wait to catch a wave and feel the warmth again.

After a short while Zuma saw his opportunity at a decent wave and started paddling and as usual, a perfect entry. He was riding the wave in anticipation but nothing, he only found his eyes were wandering toward his hovercraft over on the beach. Zuma rid out the wave and came on to land with a sigh as he picked up his board and walked back to the orange vehicle. He dropped his board in the sand and sat down next to Rocky.

"WHOA!" Rocky yelled and recoiled as he felt Zuma accidentally touch him with his wet fur.

"Sowwy dude." Zuma apologized as Rocky wiped his shoulder and sat back down.

"A-all good. Are you done already?" Rocky asked in a confused tone.

"Yeah I guess I just wasn't feeling it today." Zuma said as he looked out over the sea.

"What do you mean 'Feeling it' the waves look great." Rocky asked.

"I don't know, I guess I just wasn't getting the vibes I was hoping fow." Zuma said slightly disappointed as Rocky was right the waves were good.

"Vibes? Actually I should have learned by now, none of this makes any sense." Rocky said as he looked back at his book.

"What awe you weading." Zuma asked after a short silence.

"It's about aerodynamics." Rocky said as he showed the front of the book which had an image depicting a bunch of lines going over some kind of object which didn't make any sense to Zuma.

"aewo what now." Zuma asked confused by a word he had never heard before.

"The concept it self is actually quite simple."

"Fow you maybe."

"No seriously, uhh..." Rocky said as he looked around.

"... take your surfboard as an example, you see those fins underneath?" Rocky continued.

"Uh yeah."

"Those are a good example of aerodynamics, they are what keeps the board going forward even when riding on a wave that is pushing you to the side. By making the least resistance for the water from the front, this makes the surfboard cut across the wave horizontally rather than just sliding down it straight toward the beach." Rocky explained enthusiastically.

"Wow dude that was simple. Why do you even need a book on that if I can undewstand it?" Zuma said with confidence. Rocky didn't respond he just turned the book to Zuma showing him a page full of graphs and words Zuma never thought existed.

"Oh." Zuma said with considerably less confidence.

"Yeah there's a bit more to it." Rocky chuckled as he turned the book back toward himself and continued reading.

*BEEP* *BEEP*

Rocky's pup tag flashed before he pressed on it and answered.

"It's Rocky." He said.

"Hello Rocky I heard you and Zuma were still in town?" Cap'n Turbot could be heard saying with a hopeful tone.

"Yes, do you need help with something?" Rocky asked.

"Yes! The Flounder's engine is behaving particularly peculiarly, I think I can make it to the docks but I wanted to ask you first." Cap'n Turbot asked as he was not sure what to do.

"Smart move, shut off the engine immediately and I'll be right over." Rocky said as he didn't know exactly what might be wrong.

"Okay thank you Rocky." Cap'n Turbot said before Rocky ended the call. Rocky flipped open his pup tag revealing a few small buttons on the inside, he pressed one of them.

"Zuma I sent the call location to your vehicle." Rocky said as he closed his pup tag.

"What, you can do that? Can mine do that?" Zuma asked as he had never seen anyone but Ryder do that before.

"Yes I can, No yours can't." Rocky answered as he climbed in to the hovercraft. Zuma climbed in after him and started the vehicle.

"Just take it slow this time, we're not in a hurry." Rocky quickly reminded Zuma.

"You'we no fun dude." Zuma said as he started going toward the GPS marker at a reasonable speed.

After a short while they spotted the Flounder and drove up beside it. Zuma swiftly jumped over from the hovercraft to the Flounder. Rocky was about to follow but he looked down and saw the dark cold water between the watercrafts, he looked up with a gulp as his legs were shaking a little bit. He calculated, then he jumped making it across safely.

"*Phew* Alright what seems to be the problem?" Rocky asked.

"Well she's emitting unusual amounts of smoke, other than that she seems fine." Cap'n Turbot explained. Rocky was pretty sure he knew what was wrong as this type of engine has this issue a lot.

"Hmm, can you turn on the engine for a second?" Rocky asked just to be sure.

"Yes, one moment." He said as he ran to the helm and turned on the engine. It sounded nothing out of the ordinary so now Rocky was sure he knew what the problem was.

"It's your catalytic converter, your boat is fine to drive to the docks. Just tell the dockhand and they should be able to help you from there." Rocky said as he couldn't fix it out here with no spare parts.

"Thanks Rocky, and you too Zuma." Cap'n Turbot said as Zuma hopped back into his craft.

"No problem, if you need us just yelp for help." Rocky said with a smile as Cap'n Turbot walked back downstairs. Rocky turned around and hopped up on the ledge on the side of the boat, once again the nerves hit Rocky as he was faced with the sea. As he was balancing on the narrow ledge he calculated his jump carefully before pushing away from the boat with just the right amount of force, but he felt how his back paws slipped.

"ZUMA!" Rocky yelled out just before everything went black, his eyes were open but no light penetrated to the depths below. Rocky was flailing franticly as he tried getting back to the surface but to no avail, he felt how air was escaping from his mouth from all the flailing. Rocky felt pressure under his forelegs as his head was pushed above the water, He frantically grabbed one of the handles on the side of the hovercraft's rubber skirt as he finally got a breath in. Zuma appeared next to him and quickly climbed up in to his hovercraft, he pulled Rocky out of the water and back in to the passenger seat.

"Dude you gotta be mowe cawef-" Zuma stopped abruptly as he looked back at Rocky sitting frozen in the backseat wide eyed and breathing heavily.

"A-awe you alwight?" Zuma asked in a concerned voice as he looked back at his distraught friend.

"Yeah, j-just get me to land." Rocky said as he continued breathing heavily. Zuma quickly started the vehicle and got them back to the beach while worrying about his friend in the backseat. As they were nearing the beach Zuma remembered something, he reached in under his seat and grabbed an orange towel.

"Uh, hewe dude." Zuma said as he reached the towel over his shoulder. He felt how the towel was quickly snatched out of his paw as he continued driving.

"He doesn't know how to swim." Zuma realized in his head as the craft came to a stop on the beach again. Rocky slowly stepped out of the craft and sat down on the warm sand with the towel tightly wrapped around him.

"Hey dude, awe you okay?" Zuma asked in a sincere voice as he jumped down and sat down next to Rocky..

"Yeah, yeah..." Rocky said in a low voice as he pulled the towel tighter.

"D-do you not know how to swim?" Zuma asked.

"No, why would I? I hate water." Rocky pointed out.

"You'we smawt enough to figuwe out why on youw own, and I know you alweady have." Zuma said looking at the towel wrapped pup. Rocky gave no answer.

"Alwight then it's a deal." Zuma said as he stood back up and hopped in his vehicle.

"Wait what's a deal? I didn't say anything." Rocky asked confused and slightly worried at what the Lab had come up with.

"I'm gonna teach you how to swim fiwst thing tomowwow. Hop in and let's get you a dwy cap and some food." Zuma said with a smile as he started the engine.

"No no no, I'm not going near water." Rocky protested.

"Yeah you awe, you can't change my mind. Now come on and hop in I'm hungwy." Zuma said stubbornly. Rocky knew Zuma was right he would never change his mind and he knew there was no point to argue against him on this so he just hopped in behind him with a sigh. Zuma pressed on the gas and they took the road back to the lookout, as the wind violently blew the towel Rocky held on tighter as he tried to figure out a way out of having to touch water. However every scenario that ran through his mind ended with him in the water.

"Damnit." Rocky said in his mind after minutes of thinking as he knew when to give up as there was no way out of this now. The hovercraft pulled in to the designated space as Rocky carefully picked up his damp cap between his teeth making sure to not let it touch his drying fur.

"You go do whatevew you need to do, I'll be in the common awea." Zuma said with a smile as he walked off toward the lookout. Rocky jumped out of the craft and walked over to his pup house where he threw his cap up on to one of the forklift tynes to dry. He quickly walked inside his pup house and rummaged through his closet finding a single towel all the way in the back. Rocky furiously rubbed the towel through his fur desperately trying to dry every last strand, he hated every second he felt his damp fur resting against his skin.

Finally Rocky felt his fur now dry and comfortable as it should be, he hung the towel over the open closet door and started once again rummaging through the contents inside the closet. Since his cap was wet he had to find something else to wear over his messy patch, he knew it was here somewhere.

"There you are." Rocky said as he pulled out his big truck pup cap, it looked very similar to his usual one but the rim was orange and instead of the usual emblem it had a recycling logo. Rocky loved this cap but his uniform included the normal one so for convenience he just always wore it instead. Rocky started walking towards the lookout doors as he was straightening out some of his fur that was still messed from the towel, however he quickly found himself entering the lookout where he saw Zuma sitting in front of the TV with his food. Rocky quickly grabbed his bowl and went to sit down next to his friend, although the conversation started a little slow they quickly found themselves back to their usual rhythm. Time felt like it was flying by as every time Rocky looked out of the window the sun had moved further and further towards the horizon and they found themselves more and more tired.

"Aw, no shot. The sun is alweady going down." Zuma said disappointedly as he looked out the window.

"When you mention it, I guess I am pretty tired." Rocky said just now realizing how tired he also felt.

"Yeah you'we wight, as usual." Zuma said and chuckled a little.

"Guess it's time to head to sleep then." Zuma continued.

"Yep." Rocky said as he stood up and began walking towards the lookout door.

"Wocky!" Zuma yelled after him

"W-what?" Rocky said confusedly as he turned around.

"Wemembew what I told you. Not evewyone is a wobot like you, most people say bye." Zuma said reminding the pup of something they had talked about.

"Oh right uh, Goodnight Zuma." Rocky said with a smile before continuing towards the door and then his pup house. Before he entered his pup house he jumped up and grabbed his now dry cap from the tyne, once inside he placed his trucker cap in the closet and then his uniform cap in the inline drawer. He took off his pup tag and placed it on the charging pad on his nightstand, before he threw himself on to the bed. He got comfortable under the blanket and moved his pillow as he allowed himself to relax, the more relaxed he got the more he felt his mind wandering like he never allowed it to do during the day. Until his mind locked on one thought and one thought alone, the feeling of being wet.

He knew that he wasn't actually wet but he could still feel it, but it wasn't like earlier today which confused Rocky. He felt small... and weak, and his ears felt like someone had stomped on them yet he wasn't in pain or discomfort. Suddenly Rocky felt another wetness but this one was different, it felt real. Rocky quickly reached for his face and felt a single tear with his paw, running down his face. He shot up in his bed feeling over his entire body with his paws, everything was in his mind except this one tear.

"I don't feel sad, what is this, why is this happening." Rocky said in his mind, his mind began working again laser focused on exactly what Rocky wanted it to be, unlike earlier. Rocky ran through every possibility of why this tear was here haunting his mind, and every time it came back with the same result.

"But no that doesn't make sense, that can't be why... that was the day I realized emotions will only get in my way." Rocky said in his mind.

"I need to figure this out, that can't be why." Rocky thought to himself as he stood up and walked over to his swivel chair, he sat down and grabbed a pencil before realizing that he was out of blueprint paper. He looked around in his drawers until he found an unlabeled notebook he hadn't seen in a while as he rarely used it anymore, he thought back on the day when Ryder gave it to him.

Flashback

"I know you don't like to talk about your feelings to others Rocky, but keeping them all in your head isn't healthy. So here take this, if you won't speak your feelings at least write them down, it's good for you I promise." Ryder said and handed a small unlabeled notebook to Rocky.

"But Ryder I-" Rocky was interrupted.

"You don't have to say anything, just take the book. Even if you don't use it just remember that it will always be there ready to catch anything you might need to let out." Ryder said before walking off leaving the pup with the book in paw. Rocky closed the door to his pup house and walked over to his chair and sat down with pencil in hand, he opened the book and saw the only text written in the entire book.

"Rocky's diary" He read to himself before turning the page being faced with a blank page, he hesitantly placed down the pencil and began.

"I... feel..." He read along as he was writing, he just stared at the two words before he crossed them both out and began writing again.

"Possible hydraulic piston improvements for work truck." He wrote down before flipping back to the first page and crossed out the word diary replacing it with Logbook.

Flashback over

He had been using the book to write down ideas and blueprints a while back. He flipped through the book seeing all the things he had thought about building in the past before he reached an empty page where he wasted no time and began writing everything that came to mind.

After what felt like hours of thinking he had just filled up a page with words but was nowhere closer to figuring anything out, he pushed the notebook away and leaned back in his chair with a sigh. He looked up at the ceiling but felt his mind begin to wander again, he quickly sat back up straight getting control of his mind back. Rocky saw his guitar and realized that if he was focused on difficult guitar techniques maybe he could keep his mind at bay. He reached out for it and placed it in his lap as he began strumming away.

Zuma found himself under his warm blanket as his senses began awakening one by one, he slowly sat up in his soft bed as a yawn escaped his lips. Something was different this morning but the tired pup couldn't put his paw on what. He stretched out all four of his legs before he got out of bed and grabbed his pup tag off the nightstand, as he would every morning. He walked out the door of his pup house in to the rising morning sun but then it hit him.

"Wocky didn't wake me up." Zuma said to himself finally realizing what felt so different today. Zuma quickly walked over to Rocky's pup house and grabbed the door, with all his might he slid it opened. Only to find that Rocky had dampeners on his door so the door just slowly slid the last bit carefully reaching a full stop.

"Damn you Wocky, why have you gotta think of everything." Zuma thought to himself.

"You can't just not wake me up dude, we'we still going to the beach." Zuma said as he turned his attention to the bed which he now realized was empty. Zuma looked around spotting the gray pup still asleep in his swivel chair with his guitar in his lap.

"You're still asleep?" Zuma thought to himself as he walked up to his friend.

"Du-" Zuma was about to wake his friend but something caught his eye, it was the same notebook he had accidentally spotted in Rocky's drawer earlier. There it was open on his friends desk, he quickly looked away not wanting to see something he shouldn't see. But curiosity got the best of him when he looked at the page he saw...

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Zuma didn't understand what he was looking at, to him it was just a bunch of words yet it still worried him. He decided to let his friend sleep as it looked like he needed it, Zuma carefully walked out and closed the door behind him before heading toward the lookout to grab breakfast while he let Rocky sleep.

As he sat down in front of the TV with his food he found himself thinking back on the notebook he saw unable to focus on the TV or his food.

"What does he mean by 'Tear'? What does it mean? He's okay right? Yeah he's Rocky, he's fine. It probably didn't say tear as in teardrop, it's probably tear as in torn paper. Yeah he's fine." Zuma thought as he calmed down.

"Yeah he's fine." Zuma said out loud as he leaned back and was finally able to focus on the TV.

"Who's fine?" Zuma heard Rocky yawn from behind him, Zuma jumped a little dropping some of his food.

"Aw man, my food." Zuma groaned to himself as the food went everywhere.

"Heh, sorry." Rocky chuckled.

"I'll get you some more. Anyways what was that about?" Rocky asked again.

"W-What?" Zuma asked trying to avoid the question.

" 'Who's fine?' " Rocky reiterated.

"U-uh what do you mean." Zuma said flustered as he was trying to come up with an excuse.

"Zuma." Rocky said as he looked at with Zuma sincere eyes. Zuma looked back at Rocky as he felt his heart racing.

"Y-yes?" Zuma hesitantly responded.

"If you don't want to tell me something, just say that." He said softly with a smile before he walked off towards the kitchen to grab some food.

"*Phew*" Zuma sharply exhaled as Rocky disappeared around the counter in the kitchen. He could not come up with a single excuse, he completely lost his cool immediately.

"Sometimes I wish I was as collected as you..." Zuma said to himself looking at where Rocky had disappeared behind the counter. Before he quickly came back around again with an overfilled bowl. As he got to Zuma he tipped off the excess food in to his bowl before sitting down next to him watching the TV.

"Thanks dude." Zuma thanked with a smile before he took another bite of food.

"No problem." Rocky said as he took a bite of his food.

"So awe you feeling alwight about latew?"

"About what?"

"The swimming." Zuma said before Rocky froze, he took a deep inhale before turning to Zuma.

"I know you won't change your mind, so what else can I do." Rocky replied.

"That's the spiwit." Zuma joked earning no response from Rocky.

"Dude, it's gonna be fine." Zuma said as he put his paw on his friend's shoulder.

"Whoa dude, do you need an ice pack ow something?"

"What? Why?" Rocky asked confused by Zuma's comment.

"N-nothing I guess..." Zuma said as he lifted his paw from his shoulder and looked at it, he could swear that Rocky felt hot to the touch but apparently he was fine.

"Alright goofball." Rocky said playfully punching Zuma in the shoulder.

"Hey, we should pwobably get going if we wanna have some sun left." Zuma said as he took the last bite of his food. Rocky inhaled deeply.

"Okay." He simply answered as they both stood up, he walked towards his hovercraft with Rocky sluggishly following behind him.

"Come on dude, wouldn't you wathew do it in the sun." Zuma said as he started the engine.

"I guess." Rocky said in a defeated voice as he jumped up to Zuma and sat down behind him with dread on his mind.

With every second that passed Rocky felt himself regretting everything that lead up to this, he knew that there was no way to get out of it especially now that they were almost at the beach already.

*BEEP* *BEEP*

Rocky quickly looked down at his pup tag and answered.

"Hello?" Rocky said quickly hoping for a reason to avoid going to the beach.

"Hi, Ryder said you were still in town. My Bettina has escaped." Farmer Yumi said in a hurried voice.

"Don't worry I'll be there shortly." Rocky answered before he ended the call.

"YES!" Rocky cheered in his head.

"Zuma get us there as fast as you can." Rocky said confidently.

"Fine, but this does not mean we awen't doing this latew."

"Of course, but right now this is more important."

"Yeah." Zuma said as he sped up and flicked a switch causing his hazards to rapidly flash opposite each other as he drove towards the farm.

A long time later

"Oh my god this is so good." Zuma said quickly taking another bite of carrot cake.

"Yeah definitely." Rocky agreed

"I can't believe Bettina was hiding in that bush the entiwe time I spent houws looking."

"Heh yeah, but she absolutely wrecked the fence. I basically had to replace the whole thing."

"Yeah well, at least she won't be able to bweak it evew again."

"Yeah there is no way she's breaking the new metal supports I installed."

"Do you know whewe the neawest twashcan is?" Zuma asked the Eco pup.

"Yeah just around the corner of that bush." Rocky said and pointed to a nicely trimmed bush just outside townhall where they were parked.

"Sweet." Zuma said as he grabbed his now empty paper plate and threw it in the trash.

"Alwight now! Swimming!" Zuma said happily causing the grey pup to feel the dread once again.

"Y-yeah right." Rocky said.

"Alwight sweet, let's go"

"Mhmm." He said in a shaky tone as Zuma hopped back in the vehicle and started it. Rocky could already see the empty beach as the just had to pull around the corner before they were right in front of it, Zuma scanned around the vehicle before he turned on his hazards and drove over the sidewalk on to the beach. Rocky could hear what would usually be calming waves washing up on the beach, but now every wave brought with it anxiety. Rocky slowly stepped out of the vehicle placing his paws on the sand, Zuma was ahead of him already standing knee high in the water looking back at the gray pup. He slowly walked towards where the small waves were gently brushing up and down the shoreline.

"Alwight dude, fiwst step is to touch the watew." Zuma said as he walked closer to Rocky, he still had his paws in the water as the waves brushed against his legs. Rocky was staring down at the waves washing up just in front of his grey sleeved white paws.

"Hey, dude just take one step fowwawd." Zuma said causing Rocky to look up at him, Zuma saw the worry in his eyes. Suddenly Rocky felt a cold sensation on one of his paws, he violently recoiled stumbling backward and falling on his back as he felt his fur sticking to the skin. He desperately shook the paw.

"Awe you alwight dude?" Zuma asked concerned walking over to the gray pup on the ground, he dried his brown short haired paws in the sand.

"You need a paw?" Zuma said as he reached out his sandy paw. Rocky grabbed on and helped himself up off the ground, he looked down at the ground.

"Hey dude, it's okay. It's just watew, you can do it." Zuma put his paw on the gray pups shoulder. The gray pup looked up at him with a blank face.

"Come on dude, let's just touch the watew." Zuma said softly with a smile as he pulled the hesitant pup along. Although Rocky's brain told him this was a horrible idea, his body just moved as if powerless to Zuma who was lightly pushing him along. Just before they reached the wet sand Zuma stopped him and turned to face him.

"Look at me, you can do this. When the next wave has passed just step fowwawd and let the sea come to you." Zuma spoke to the gray pup. As the wave retreated from just in front of his paws Rocky took a deep breath and stepped forward alongside Zuma. As he touched the wet sand a chill shot up his spine as his face contorted.

"You got this, just close youw eyes and let go of contwol." Zuma said as he faced forwards and closed his eyes. He could feel the gray rough fur rubbing against his as they both stood there waiting. Rocky never had the nicest fur but right now it was everything Zuma could feel, every time Rocky's chest expanded for a breath he could feel his extremely warm body radiating heat.

"How are you always so warm?" Zuma questioned in his mind before he felt the ocean embrace his legs interrupting any thoughts.

"See dude you'we fine." Zuma said with a smile as he opened his eyes before he looked over to Rocky causing his smile to fade. Rocky's face showed a blank expression as he was frozen staring towards the horizon. But his eyes... he looked broken.

"Dude?" Zuma asked in a concerned voice... a tear fell from his friends face, hitting the retreating wave below being swept away with it.

"H-hey it's okay... you did it, w-we can go back now." Zuma said receiving no answer from Rocky.

Rocky was a prisoner in his own mind, frozen in place. All he could hear was a blaring alarm and panicked footsteps all around him, his heart was racing and he began breathing heavily as he felt smaller and smaller in a big world of panic until... he felt a warm paw on his shoulder snapping him out of it.

"Dude, it's okay... l-let's just go back to land."

"U-uh o-o-okay." Rocky managed to stutter out as Zuma released him and they stepped back on the dry sand.

"What's wrong with me... The tears again... That can't be the reason, there must be something else... But it's the only reason..." Rocky's mind wandered as they walked back to Zuma's hovercraft. Rocky sat down against the hovercrafts rubber skirt hanging his head low. Zuma hopped up and grabbed a towel from under his seat.

"Hewe." Zuma said softly and handed the towel to Rocky. He dried off his paws as Zuma hopped down and sat down next to him, he looked off to the horizon where he could already see the sun beginning to set as the sky lit up with it's orange rays. There was silence as they sat there.

"What's wwong dude?" Zuma asked softly.

"Nothing." Rocky said wrapping the towel over himself.

"I'm not stupid... That's not the weaction of someone who just hates watew..."

"I'm Fine Zuma!" Rocky responded loudly as he turned away from Zuma.

"No... you'we not." Zuma responded softly as he placed a paw on Rocky's shoulder.

"I-I'm hewe fow you..."

"I don't need anyone to be 'here' for me. I'm fine."

"...I-It's okay to not be okay sometimes... I know you don't like feelings but I know that you still feel... Howevew much you twy to think logically... Sometimes you just have to let youw heawt fwee." Zuma could feel how the his friend shrunk. Zuma could hear a shaky breath leave his friend before he slowly turned back around to face Zuma. Zuma saw his blank face but his eyes told him everything, he saw all the despair and sadness piled up behind them like a window in to his soul.

"Hey, just let it out..." Zuma said softly.

"I'm not hewe to judge you..."

"Fwiends help fwiends..." Zuma put his paw back on his friends shoulder. Tears began running from his friend's eyes painting his gray face blue as the emotion leaked out across his usually emotionless face.

"It's okay, just let it all out." Zuma said rubbing Rocky's shoulder. Rocky's eyes leaked uncontrollably, tears rolling down his face with cries being held back behind uncontrolled breathing.

"What is this." Rocky said in a worried voice between jagged inhales.

"You'we finally feeling." Rocky sat down on the ground staring at the sand as he wiped the tears from his eyes but they kept coming.

"Just take a deep bweath." Rocky took a deep shaky breath causing more tears to come flooding out.

"I c-can't do this! I-It doesn't make sense, I-I-" Rocky's rambling was interrupted by a warm feeling, a tight embrace. His eyes shot wide for a moment before everything broke, he couldn't understand anything anymore. Everything was so overwhelming he didn't know what to do or feel, he just started weeping with soft cries of pain and confusion. Zuma just held on as a lifetime of emotions came flowing out.

"It's alwight, you needed this." Zuma comforted with his side hug as Rocky wept.

"I-I..W-why..." Rocky attempted to speak between sobs and jagged breaths.

"Evewything will be okay." Zuma said as he rested his forehead agains his friends shoulder.

"Z-Zuma..."

"I'm hewe." He responded softly

"I-I'm s-scared! I-I don't... why- help me." Rocky cried overwhelmed by all the new emotions he had never felt before.

"You'we safe." He comforted.

"I-I don't know w-what anything means." Rocky pushed out through jagged breaths.

"And you won't if you don't allow youwself to feel." Zuma reasoned softly before Rocky looked up at him with the towel still draped over his head. His face actually showed sadness unlike anything Zuma had seen from his friend before.

"I-I don't want t-to." Rocky cried out facing his friend.

"It'll be alwight..." Zuma comforted. Rocky laid down in the sand falling out of Zuma's embrace with the towel over his back as the emotions were draining his energy. He now felt cold and a feeling of longing as he wept on the ground. Zuma knew Rocky had to do this so he just sat there offering silent support as he let out his pains.

An exhausted Rocky was slowly calming down, laying there in the sand with only a few sniffles. Zuma was sitting leaned up against the rubber skirt of the hovercraft right next to his friend.

"You... wanna talk about it?" Zuma asked softly hoping to find out the reason behind his friend's sudden emotional outbreak and fear for water. After a moment Rocky let out a disheartened sigh.

"About what?" Rocky asked in a sad voice with a sniffle.

"Anything you need to." Zuma said.

"Do I even know what myself?... *sigh* It's the only reason, can't keep denying it..." Rocky reasoned in his mind, he had never told anyone about this before. But for some reason however much he dreaded the idea of telling someone, he felt safe alone on the beach with Zuma.

"I-I... *sigh*." Rocky attempted before sitting back up and looking back at Zuma. He was sitting there with a relaxed posture and patient eyes giving Rocky the time he needed.

"I-I don't know if I can..." Rocky said looking back out toward the orange horizon.

"Take the time you need... you don't need to tell me anything."

"But I want to tell you." Rocky said as he let out a sigh frustrated at his own indecision.

"It's okay, yo-" Zuma was interrupted.

"No it's not! I'm never indecisive." Rocky spoke loudly. Rocky took a deep breath.

"Okay... okay... I'm doing this, and I'm doing it right." Rocky said as he straightened his posture but kept his gaze toward the horizon and with one final deep breath.

"I'm gonna have to explain a lot..."

"Don't wowwy , I'm hewe to listen howevew long you need." Zuma said softly encouraging the gray pup's regained confidence.

"I guess it all started with the first things I remember... ever..." Rocky began the story, Zuma now realizing that Rocky really meant he had to explain a lot.

Flashback

Rocky was running as fast as his tiny legs could carry him, the aggressive barks echoing off the shipping containers quickly closing in. He ran on the wet asphalt staining his white paws, the dogs behind him now closer than ever. Rocky panicked and looked around as he was running, he heard a large truck starting it's engine drawing his eyes to it. Rocky saw his opportunity and pushed forward even harder trying to reach the truck before it drove off. Just as he was about to get to the truck it started moving forward, Rocky looked at the trailer with determination as the paw steps were growing loud behind him. With a calculated step and a perfect push, Rocky managed to launch himself just barely catching the trailer hinge between the trailers. As the truck was picking up speed he managed to climb up on top holding himself in place as best as he could. He turned back around to see the dog that was chasing him slowly fall behind the truck.

"Das war mein Essen, du Schweinehund!"
("That was my food, you bastard!") Rocky could hear the dog yell.

"Tut mir leid!"
("I'm sorry!") Rocky yelled back to the dog whose food he had unintentionally stolen. The dog quickly lost the truck as it drove on a small road between the shipping containers as Rocky did his best not to fall off. As Rocky was balancing in-between the containers he decided to jump to the furthest forward one, he wrapped his foreleg around one of the lock bars as he hung on resting his back paws against the door lip of the container. He was way more stabile right there finally being able to hold on to something.

After a few minutes Rocky noticed how the truck started to slow down, he looked out to the side and saw a big light blue wall of metal. He was was about to jump back down to the ground but he heard a loud metal bang which scared him causing him to grab back on to the bar. Looking up he saw a big yellow square had locked on to the top of the container he was hugging, and before he knew it he felt a tug and the container was lifted in to the air.

"Scheiße!"
(Shit!)" Rocky yelled as he held on to the bar as tight as he could. The container was lifted over a short patch of water before it went over the blue wall revealing it to be the hull of a massive container ship. The container began being lowered down onto the ship, Rocky's container was lowered down on top of one other container. The gray pup was holding on best as he could but he quickly found his legs getting exhausted, before another container was stacked on top of his causing the container to shake as Rocky lost his grip. Rocky fell unable to even make a sound, before he hit the metal floor with a thud.

Rocky opened his eyes to fuzzy double vision as he tried to keep his eyes straight, a pounding pain pulsating through his head as it laid against the cold and wet metal deck of the boat. He lifted his forelegs to his head causing him to feel the dull pain on his entire right side of his body he landed on. He pushed himself off the ground with a groan feeling a sharp pain in his right ear as it left the ground, as he sat up he steadied himself against a container as he was recovering from the dizziness. He lifted his paw to his ear feeling the sharp pain as he touched it he could hear a faint ringing from it, and it wasn't standing up anymore. As he regained his full vision he noticed how he could see all the way to the horizon, he quickly stumbled over to the edge of the ship. He saw that it was out on open water and he could just barely make out the lights of the city on the dark horizon. Rocky felt sad but what for he couldn't remember to this day. Rocky just started walking but to where he didn't know, everything was so big and confusing it was a colorful maze of containers.

Flashback ends

"Wait, Wait, Wait! You'we Gewman!?" Zuma asked almost yelling.

"Y-yeah..." Rocky said quietly.

"Why haven't you told me that befowe?!" Zuma questioned.

"I... I haven't really told anyone about my past." Rocky sighed as his head fell.

"Oh uh... wight, sowwy." Zuma said noticing the changed demeanor in his friend.

"*sigh* Don't be... "

"You... wanna continue the stowy." Zuma asked the quiet pup.

"Oh... yeah. Well my memory is a bit fuzzy after that, all I can remember is that I found some place indoors to sleep. But after that..." Rocky continued the story.

Flashback

Rocky woke up with his head rested against a cardboard box as he heard footsteps just outside the dark room. Rocky quickly got on his legs as his right side ached, the door quickly slid open. Rocky managed to scramble in behind a few cardboard boxes in the back of the room as a man walked in. The man was wearing a white shirt, black pants and a blue apron. Rocky peered through the gap between the boxes as he felt his heart pounding as the man walked straight towards him. Rocky saw the man right in front of the box he was hiding behind, he reached out as Rocky felt a drop of sweat fall down his face. The man grabbed a box of the shelf above him and carried it out leaving the door ajar as a sliver of light peered through.

"*phew* Ich muss einen neuen Schlafplatz finden."
("*phew* I need to find somewhere else to sleep.") Rocky thought to himself, although he wasn't sure exactly where he was as almost everyone on the ship was asleep and the lights were off when he got inside. So he wandered through the darkness and found himself here.

Rocky walked over to the door and carefully peeked through the opening, he saw a long empty corridor and at one end he saw the man with the box enter through a door leaving it open. Rocky carefully ran over to the door with a slight limp, quietly hugging the walls as he moved. As he made it to the door he noticed a sign right next to it.

"M-M Mens-s. Mensa!"
"C-C Can-t. Canteen!" Young Rocky sounded out to himself quietly before figuring out what the word was. Rocky was only a small pup but he was by no means stupid, he knew that that meant that there was food in there. He peeked his head through the door finding the room empty, however he heard two voices coming from what he assumed was the kitchen, he quietly walked over to the door where the sounds were coming from. As he looked in he saw the box man and another man next to him dressed the same next to him, they were facing away from the door presumably making food. Rocky spotted the box the man had taken with him, it was opened and laying down on the counter with a bunch of items spilling out. Rocky quietly snuck over to the box and jumped up on to the counter where he saw that the box was filled with bread, cheese, butter, salad, and more however something else caught Rocky's attention, sliced ham. Rocky's eyes shot wide seeing the delicious meat in it's plastic packaging, he wasted no time in in grabbing the ham and getting out of there. He quickly jumped off the counter landing on the floor with an audible grunt as his right legs were still sore.

"Was war das? Habt ihr das gehört?"
("What was that? Did you hear that?") One of the men asked startled by the sound.

"Was gehört?"
("Hear what?") The other one asked.

"Ich weiß nicht, aber ich weiß dass ich etwas gehört habe."
("I don't know, but I know I heard something.") The man said as he started walking around the counter to investigate. Luckily Rocky was out of sight but not for long, he quickly jerked his head around spotting a tray cart. He ran as quietly as he could over to it before sliding the meat in under followed by himself just as the man came around the corner.

"Hast du etwas gefunden?"
("Find anything?")The man still making food asked.

"Uh, Nein, ich glaube es war nichts."
("Uh, No, I guess it was nothing.") The man sighed and walked back to making food. Rocky took the opportunity and crawled out from under the cart before quickly scurrying out of of the kitchen, he made for the door out of the canteen in to the corridor. As he was running back to the storage room he slept in he heard voices around the corner. He stopped as he would not be able to reach the room in time, he turned around and bolted the other way past the canteen and around a corner just in time. He saw a heavy steel door ajar and quickly squeezed through, he wasn't sure if they had seen him or not so he just kept running. He found himself outside again running through the light rain, he swooped around the corner of a container and stopped to catch his breath, tried to lean up against a container but fell over as the door was open.

"Toll."
("Great.") Rocky said sarcastically as he picked himself up off the floor. Then he realized that he could sleep here, all he would have to do is close the door and no one would find him. He grabbed his sliced ham and walked inside pulling the door closed behind him. The container went dark with only a sliver of light appearing through the door. He couldn't fully close the door without locking it from the outside so there was a small gap.

Flashback ends

"I was on that ship for days, maybe a week. Living out of that container stealing food everyday, i-it was... it was hard, a-and then..." Rocky's voice started breaking as he continued the story, a tear fell from his eye.

Flashback

A few days later

Rocky was jolted awake by a blaring alarm as he head a set of panicked footsteps pass by right outside the container, he quickly got on his paws and held steady on the rocking ship before he pushed the container door open. The black night sky was lit up orange by towering flames emerging through the rear of the ship. Rocky was frozen standing in the heavy rain staring at the massive flames, before a loud explosion sounded out as a fireball shot out from the side of the ship sending a shockwave through the air. He fell to the ground covering his ears, as he pressed on them he felt a sharp pain in his right ear. He felt himself sliding on the wet metal as the ship began violently listing to the left, he slid until he hit the guardrails on the side of the ship with a thud.

"UGH!" He groaned out as the right side of his body slammed in to the thick metal. The flames were quickly growing bigger as the ship was taking on more and more water. The huge containers started sliding towards Rocky as he bolted as fast as he could to an intersection in the load, he just barely made it before multiple containers smashed through the small walls on the edge of the ship on either side of him. Rocky was frantically looking around in a panic as the flames were rising and the constant loud sounds of containers sliding was overwhelming all his senses. He heard a loud metal bang as he looked up at the containers still sliding, one of them had bumped against something and was now headed straight to where Rocky was standing. He had nowhere to go, containers sliding out to sea on both sides of him. He made a split second decision, he jumped, falling towards the violent waves of the pitch black sea below he felt the air rushing past him for what felt like minutes. Then everything went dark and cold, all he could see was the dark depths below and looking up he saw the orange flames distorted by the turbulent water above. His eyes were burning from the salt water as he pushed as hard as he could to get his head up to the surface. He managed to get a short breath in before a wave smashed down on him, getting his head up to the surface again he saw a small crate floating before he was violently pushed under again. He swam towards the crate with all his might constantly being pushed down by the violent waters, he could feel himself growing tired as another wave smashed him down. His body pleaded for air but his mind refused to move, he had lost all hope, floating peacefully in the cold abyss, no hope to make it to the surface... Before he caught a glimpse of the box floating now right above him, his body sprung into action pushing with whatever power he had left to get him up. He breached the surface with his paws grabbing on to the crate, claws digging in to the wood as he was finally able to take a full breath. He climbed up a bit more getting a good grip on the box as the waves were still slamming in to him, but now he had something to hold on to.

"Dumme Emotionen hätten mich fast umgebracht. SCHEIßE!"
("Stupid emotions almost got me killed. FUCK!") Rocky yelled out loud.

BOOM!

The entire rear of the ship exploded with a loud boom unlike anything Rocky had ever heard, launching pieces of the ship in all directions.

"AHH!" Rocky yelled out as a small piece of red hot shrapnel flew straight through the edge of his left ear with a stinging pain. He grabbed on to his ear as the pain got worse from the salt water, as the box he held on to floated further and further away from the burning wreck that was once a ship. Everything was burning from the saltwater as the waves washed over him, he held on to the crate for hours as he was becoming more and more exhausted. As the waves were calming down he was completely out of energy as everything slowly faded to black.

Rocky awoke with a gasp as he quickly sat up, he was sitting in shallow water on a rocky beach with the sun just peaking over the horizon, the crate he held on to before a short distance down the coast. He looked around seeing a small beach with rocky sand surrounded by trees, but it was what he could hear that caught his attention, he heard cars whooshing past not too far away. Rocky got up on his legs feeling how weak they still were, he did his best to walk off the beach where he reached a short gravel path. Walking along it he quickly found himself in front of a small dirt parking lot next to the road, he saw a sign next to the road and was walking over to it but he was stopped as he kicked a glass bottle drawing his attention to it. Looking in to the glass he could see his own reflection, he saw a scared gray pup with a folded right ear and a faded red color down his left side, his fur was stained by blood from his wound. Rocky tried pushing his right ear back up but it just fell back down, Rocky sighed as he continued walking with a tear forming in his eye.

"Nein! Dumme Gefühle haben mich fast umgebracht."
("No! Stupid emotions almost got me killed.") Rocky said to himself as he wiped the tear and stopped feeling sorry for himself. He walked over to the sign next to the road and tried reading it but nothing made any sense to him, he had never seen any words like this before. Rocky gave up with a sigh and just chose a direction and started walking.

Flashback ends

"What was wwong with the sign?" Zuma interrupted.

"The sign was in English... and on afterthought, it read 'Adventure City 10 miles.' " Rocky said in a low voice.

"So that ship bwought you hewe?" Zuma asked.

"Yeah... It did." Rocky said followed by a silence.

"I walked along the road for hours, before eventually finding myself in the city..." Rocky continued the story.

Flashback

Rocky was nervously looking around as he walked on the busy streets of Adventure City. He was getting weird looks from the people on the streets, as he was shyly walking along. A drop of water landed on the pup's nose, he looked up and saw the gray clouds rolling in as more drops fell. Rocky looked around and spotted a big building with the door propped open, he quickly walked towards it. When he entered he realized that it was a library, he walked up to the empty front desk where he saw some pamphlets. Picking up the first one he saw, he tried reading it but again couldn't understand anything. He looked up from it spotting something familiar at last, it was the same pamphlet but this time in text he could understand and with a little black, red, and yellow flag in the corner. He read the front page before he decided to look around.

Rocky found himself staring at a part of a shelf where there stood a bunch of dull-colored books, but one caught his attention.

"Deutsch-E-Englisch Le-lexikon."
("German-English lexicon.") Rocky sounded out before he jumped up and grabbed it off the shelf. He put down the book on the floor and flipped open the pamphlets, comparing the English and German ones. He pulled up the words in the lexicon and read along, but he noticed how the sentences weren't translating one to one or word by word.

"Dies ist ein völlig anderes grammatikalisches System."
("This is a completely different grammatical system.") Rocky thought to himself fascinated by how the language worked. He spent what felt like five minutes to him translating some simple books, but before he knew it a soothing chime sounded out in the library followed by the voice of a woman he could not understand. However when the lights dimmed slightly Rocky understood what she had said, the library was about to close but Rocky didn't want to leave the books. Besides where did he have to go elsewhere, he looked around and spotted a door with some cardboard boxes in front of it. He grabbed some of the books and the pamphlets and walked over to the door, pushing some boxes slightly aside before he jumped up and grabbed the handle opening the door. The space between the door against the boxes and the door frame was just big enough for the small pup and his books, inside was a small dark room. The light still shining through the door allowed him to see a few desks with monitors and old computers, as he inhaled he felt the dust being kicked up into the air like no one had been in there for years. Rocky walked over to one of the desks putting down his books on the floor before jumping up to one of the desks, he pressed the starts button on one of the computers. He heard how the fans came alive before promptly dying.

"*sigh* Kaputt."
("*sigh* Broken.") Rocky sighed, he looked around on the desk where he saw a table light. He grabbed the light and jumped down to the books on the floor, he moved everything in under the desk where he plugged in the light just as the lights outside the room shut off leaving him in complete darkness. He flicked on the light creating a warm yellow glow to appear lighting up the floor under the desk in the otherwise dark room. Rocky flipped open the lexicon and tried pronouncing some simple words he had seen in the pamphlet.

"Hel-åh... He... He-low... Wäl-kom-e... Wel-kom." He said through a thick accent looking over at the phonetics and correcting himself along the way. He quickly found himself engrossed in the to him, quirky grammatical rules. And before long the smart pup found himself being able to string together simple sentences

"Hällo I ame a puppi." Rocky spoke with a thick accent. Feeling happy about his progress he rolled over on his back looking up at the table above him, he stretched out with a little yawn as he closed his eyes. He heard the blaring alarm and containers crashing all around him, his eyes quickly shot open focusing back on the desk above.

"Ich glaube nicht."
("I guess not.") Rocky sighed as he sat back up blankly staring in to the darkness.

Flashback ends

"I lived in that backroom for a few years." Rocky said as he leaned back and looked up at the now star-filled sky.

"And aftew that?" Zuma asked.

"Well Ryder found me, long story short. I was scavenging for some parts outside of a recycling plant when Ryder and his dad spotted me, they convinced me to come with them home and eat something... And here I am." Rocky felt good about having told someone about his past, he felt so safe and heard with Zuma sitting through the entire story.

"I'm sowwy you had to go thwough that."

"Others have it worse." Rocky replied.

"Yeah maybe but you had it bad, don't dismiss that." Zuma said receiving only a quiet sigh in response. What Rocky was feeling brought up a memory, a single part of a conversation from a few days ago.

Flashback

"Love is diffewent fow evewyone, but it's someone you feel safe awound, someone who let's you lowew youw walls and welax." Zuma explained to the questioning gray pup.

Flashback ends

"Why are you showing me this now brain, c'mon focus up." Rocky thought to himself as it felt like his brain had been hijacked by something else. He felt his heart calmly beating in rhythm with his thoughts, a feeling he had never felt before.

"If you evew need to talk like this again, don't keep it pent up in youw head." Zuma placed his paw on Rocky's shoulder. A warm feeling emanated through Rocky's body as he felt his heart beat faster and as his mind followed its rhythm as if they were one. Rocky turned his head to Zuma but was taken aback, looking at Zuma it felt like there was a completely different pup next to him. He noticed every little detail about him, his glimmering amber eyes making even the stars appear dim, his comforting smile warmly spread across his lips, and the way his fur flowed down his body.

"H-hey dude, awe you alwight?" Zuma asked, Rocky felt the nervousness kick in as his heart speed up bringing his mind with it, a lump formed in his throat.

"Yes!" Rocky replied a little too quickly as he was unable to think straight.

"Uh okay, you look a little wed." Zuma pointed out, Rocky brought a paw to his face feeling the burning heat.

"M-Must be cold from the water, we should go home." Rocky quickly blurted out before hopping in to the back seat.

"Uh, if you think so dude." Zuma said as he jumped in to the front seat.

"UGH! That was such a bad excuse, why can't I think straight." Rocky thought to himself as the vehicle started, he heard what Zuma had said echo through his head again. "No, it's not love, he's a guy!" Rocky yelled in his mind to his mind.

"He's acting weird, did I push him too far?" Zuma wondered nervously in his mind as he drove them back to the lookout.

"Wocky...? You suwe youwe alwight? You look a bit off." Zuma asked as he pulled up in to the driveway.

"U-uh yeah. W-why?" Rocky stuttered out.

"I've nevew seen you wed like this, but if you feel fine I guess it's nothing." Zuma said but he wasn't fully convinced. Rocky just kept his gaze down as they pulled into Zuma's parking spot.

"I-I'm gonna go g-get some sleep, bye." Rocky said before hastily walking towards his pup house.

"Uh o-okay, goodnight dude." Zuma said before Rocky silently disappeared into his pup house closing the door behind him.

As Rocky closed the door he felt his heart pounding, the thoughts in his head rampaging out of his control. He walked over and laid down on his bed as he tried to focus, his heart rate decreased as he was able to focus on the ceiling above. As he calmed down he closed his eyes to relax, but those amber eyes appeared in front of him spiking his heart rate. He shot up in bed feeling his heart beating out of his chest, he turned and looked over at his desk. The one thing he always had full control over, his inventions.

A/N I would like to sincerely apologize to any German speaker reading this XD. I barely know any German so had to have google help a lot.