Morning hit Adventure Bay quickly,the pups woke up,leaving their pup houses and heading into the Lookout,besides Chase,who still had his mind about that encounter with the mysterious pup last night.
Chase shook his head and took his mind off it,he walked into the Lookout following the other pups.
Ryder was filling up the pup's bowls with food as they walked in.
"Good morning pups!" Ryder said before getting tackled to the ground by the pups.
"Good morning Ryder!" The pups said in unison.
The pups soon got off their leader and went to eat their food. Everything was quiet for a while until Marshall spoke up.
"Chase,you look tired,everything ok?" Marshall asked.
"Yeah everything's fine,I just had a rough night." Chase answered.
"Chase, if you want to go back to your pup house and sleep, you can." Ryder assured as he began petting the pup.
"No,no it's fine." Chase reassured.
"Did you have a nightmare or something?" Ryder asked.
"No..." Chase said.
"Chase, it's okay to have nightmares." Ryder assured as the pups gathered around him.
"No...it's not that,it's just..." Chase thought about how they would act if he told them about last night. "Just forget about it,I'm fine." Chase said to Ryder and the pups. "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you." Chase mumbled under his breath.
"Alright,well I got to go fix some things in the garage, I'll call you pups if anything happens." Ryder said before leaving.
The pups went off to do their own thing except for Skye, who decided to stay with Chase, who was lying down not sure on what to do.
"Don't you want to go play with the pups? Why would you want to stay with me?" Chase asked.
"Well because I want to know what's wrong with you." Skye said walking up to Chase and lying down next to him. "Did it have something to do with last night?" Skye asked.
The shepherd sighed and looked away from Skye. "I don't want to talk about it Skye, I just want to sleep for a while." Chase said as he began to stand up.
"Oh ok,do you want me to walk you over to your pup house?" Skye asked.
Chase chuckled at this. "No...no it's fine,thanks anyway." Chase said as he left the lookout and went to his pup house. The shepherd entered his pup house in a tired manner, nearly falling over in the process, he got comfortable and started to slumber off.
Skye was playing with the pups but wasn't paying that much attention due to the fact that she was constantly thinking about Chase...
"Watch out Skye!"
...until she was hit in head by a frisbee which knocked her out of her train of thought.
"Sorry!" Marshall yelled out to the pup.
Skye didn't respond but gave a nod to Marshall indicating that she was fine.
"Hey Skye? Are you alright? We kind of lost you there for a second before that frisbee hit you." Zuma asked the aerial pup with a slight worry to his voice.
"I'm fine Zuma, you don't have to worry about me...I was just kind of worrying about Chase." Skye said that last sentence quietly but the chocolate lab heard her.
"Look, we know how much you care about Chase but like we agreed earlier, we should just wait until he is comfortable to talk to us, if he doesn't talk to us about whatever is going on with him then we'll bring it up, I don't want to do that so hopefully he doesn't give us that choice but knowing Chase, he will. Look I'm going to keep playing with the pups, how about you just take a walk around the Lookout, think about it without the risk of getting hit with a frisbee." Zuma smiled at the pup.
"Ok, I will, thanks Zuma." Skye smiled back.
"Anytime!" Zuma said as he went back to the pups.
Skye did what the water pup told her to do, and believe it or not but it was actually helping out. She strolled around the Lookout for a while until she was called out by Ryder.
"Hey Skye, what are you doing?" Ryder asked.
"Oh I'm just taking a stroll around the Lookout, Zuma suggested that I should." Skye answered.
"Worrying about Chase right? We all are, I don't like seeing you like this, come here, I'm going to tell you something that has to be between us, it's about Chase." Ryder gestured for the Aviator pup to come to the garage. The second Skye heard that it was about Chase she immediately ran inside the garage.
Ryder closed the garage door once the pup entered and sat down, gesturing Skye to sit down with him.
"So what is it Ryder?" Skye asked anxiously.
"Ok Skye, You need to promise to keep this between us, no one else knows besides Marshall. What I'm about to tell you is very personal to the point that Chase could lose his temper if he found out." Ryder said with a serious tone.
"You got it Ryder, I won't tell a soul!" Skye exclaimed.
Ryder took a deep breath and began to explain.
"Ok...well it was around the time I first got Chase, I was struggling with the loss of my father and one day, one of his friends stopped by the house and had Chase in his hands, he figured it would help me cope and it did. After some months spending time with Chase, he told me that he was a different pup, he was a bad pup, he stole things and hurt people out of greed, he didn't know any better until he met this pup named Isaac, who I think changed him for the better." Ryder finished explaining.
Skye took in everything that Ryder explained to her, she now knew the harsh truth that Chase was a criminal before he met Ryder, she just had to figure out how to help him without him suspecting that she knows.
"I'm...I'm sorry Ryder, I didn't know about your father..." Skye went up to the boy and nuzzled him.
"That doesn't explain much about what Chase did before your dad's friend found him?" Skye explained.
"I know, but there are boundaries that shouldn't be crossed Skye, Chase's past is one of them, remember that." Ryder assured.
"You're right, sorry Ryder, I just care so much about him—." Skye stopped herself as Ryder smirked at the pup.
Ryder continued and chuckled at the pup. "I know you care so much about him, but when the time comes, he'll tell you." Ryder petted the aviator pup, making her feel a little bit better. "Go and play with the pups, I need to finish things here." Ryder said.
"Okay Ryder!" Skye left the garage, leaving the boy to tinker with his pup pad.
Skye wasn't done yet, sure she was satisfied with her answer, albeit feeling sorry in the process, but it didn't really explain too much about how Chase was before, she didn't want to force it on the pup, but she will if it lead her no other choice.
After some time walking around the Lookout, she finally had a solution that might help.
Warm up to Chase more personally and have him tell her about his past, very simple. Skye thought that idea was scummy to say the least but it was a better idea than any pup could've thought of. She still remembered Ryder's words carefully, his past isn't a boundary to cross.
Chase woke up, coughing up water in the process, after catching his breath, the pup looked around and caught his surroundings, he was somewhere, he just didn't know exactly where. The pup got up and shook the water off him, feeling much better. He placed his paw on his collar and still had the pendant on him, thankfully it didn't come off while the pup was unconscious. As the pup walked through the dense forest, he heard cars blaring nearby, he followed the noise and everything started to fade out, leaving the pup to wonder what was going on.
Chase walked out of his pup house, feeling refreshed from his sleep but also confused about his dream, it was a flashback but incomplete. As he walked out of his pup house, Skye approached him, using her plan to figure out what was bugging Chase.
"Hi Chase! Do you feel better now?" Skye asked with optimism.
"Yeah, I'm actually feeling better, I guess I just needed some sleep." Chase lightly chuckled.
Skye giggled and made her move.
"So Chase? Would you like to go for a walk with me?" Skye asked.
Chase's heart stopped for a moment, did his crush really just ask him to go on a walk? Just the two of them?
"I...I...uh..." Chase couldn't find his answer as he looked at Skye, who's tail stopped wagging.
"If...if you don't want to, then that's okay." Skye stated.
"No! No I would like to go for a walk with you." Chase finally answered.
Skye smiled in delight as she walked away from Chase, figuring that he would follow her.
"Are you coming?" Skye giggled.
"Yeah but what about our gear? Shouldn't we bring it with us in case something happens?" Chase asked.
"Relax Chase, nothing's going to happen!" Skye assured.
As Chase got in his rig, Skye hopped in with him, since Chase was a sizable pup, Skye could fit right in the rig.
One thought kept pestering Chase though. Why did Skye all of a sudden want to spend time with him? It could be that she wants to admit her feelings or it could be something else. Chase assumed the first thought.
After some time, the two pups finally made it to the park, where they would begin to spend time with each other.
They both hopped out of the rig and Skye touched Chase's muzzle.
"Tag! You're it!" Skye began to run away from the pup.
"Oh? You can't outrun me Skye!" Chase yelled out as he went after the optimistic Cockapoo. "I'm gonna get you Skye!"
The two chased each other until Chase used an old tactic he did on Skye some time ago.
Skye realized she wasn't being chased anymore.
"Where did you go?" Skye asked herself.
Chase snuck up above her on the slide and pounced on her, tagging her nose.
"Looks like you're it!" Chase smiled as he ran from the pup.
Chase had the upper hand, gave Skye a daze as he pounced on her, giving him time to hide from the pup.
He didn't hear Skye at all calling him out, trying to find him, everything was just quiet. This gave the pup an unnerving feeling, like he was being watched. The pup started to frantically look around and was starting to hyperventilate, that was until a paw touched him, catching him by surprise and putting him into a defensive position.
"Woah! Chase, calm down it's just me!" Skye was scared by the sudden sight of Chase ready to attack, his teeth were baring and his claws were out, he was ready for anything.
Chase calmed down as he saw Skye.
"Sorry about that, Skye, just got worried for a second." Chase apologized.
"It's okay! I was wondering if you would like to go for a walk on the beach next?" Skye asked.
"Yeah...yeah that's sounds fine." Chase said with slight worry. The pup calmed down after Skye tagged his nose again.
"You're it next time." Skye giggled.
The two made it to the beach and watched the waves together, taking in the beautiful sight.
Skye took this opportunity to nuzzle up against Chase, catching him by surprise.
This caused the serious German Shepherd to blush as he looked puzzled at the sudden sight. He realized he can mess things up if he tries anything, so he decided to nuzzle her back.
Chase's worries soon went away as the two continued to nuzzle each other.
Skye was the only pup that made him feel this way, a calmer, more laid back Chase.
"It's so pretty..." Skye admired the view.
The two started to lean their muzzles closer to each other...
"This is a nice spot, isn't it?"
...until one of them stopped themselves.
Chase was the one who stopped himself from kissing Skye.
"What's wrong?" Skye asked, lowering her ears.
"It's...just..." Chase sighed. "It's nothing, it's just what you said."
"What? About this spot? It is a nice spot Chase." Skye defended.
"I know, I know but the exact way you said it, it reminded me of something." Chase was getting close to opening up to Skye.
"Reminded you of what?" Skye asked, tilting her head.
Chase sighed, knowing that he would have to tell some pup sooner or later, and what better than the pup who's been worrying about him all day.
"Last night, when you asked me if I saw something up by that tree, I denied it, when in reality, I did see something. I saw a pup and when I approached...he was gone, he then came up behind me and said those exact words to me." Chase explained, putting Skye on edge. "We spoke and he left, I guess that's why I needed some more sleep." Chase didn't want to explain more.
"What did you speak about with this 'pup'?" Skye asked.
"It was nothing, it's over now, just forget about it, we should go back, they're probably wondering where we are." Chase left the aviator pup to herself, hoping she would follow behind and she did, albeit, not in a good mood. She hoped to get more out of Chase and also hoped they could spend more time together but it was over.
The two made it to Chase's rig and as they were driving away, there was a Great Dane eyeing them from afar.
As the two came back to the Lookout, they hopped out of Chase's rig and Skye walked away, feeling down. Chase noticed this and called the pup's name.
"Skye, wait." Chase called out, which caught her attention. "I'm sorry about earlier, I hope things are...fine...between us." Chase hoped as he scratched his ear.
"Oh yeah, everything's fine, Chase." Skye said with a rather non optimistic tone as she walked away into the Lookout, where the other pups were residing, leaving Chase alone.
"How an unfortunate turn of events, wouldn't you say so officer?" The elegant pup remarked.
"Why are you here? Are you spying on me?" Chase asked.
"Heavens no, I just know a lot of things about a lot of things." The pup said.
"I guess that's one way of saying it. What do you even want?" Chase asked yet again.
"Oh, nothing my dear boy, just stopped by to tell you that not all pups will be honest with you, even those closer." The pup walked away from Chase. "That applies to you and them." The pup smirked.
Chase stood silent as the pup walked away. He knew about that last part, regarding him, he hasn't told any of the pups about his past, but what did he mean by 'them'? Chase wondered if the pups were hiding something from him, either way, he was going to find out if they were.