Broken Pieces - Chapter 2

The next morning Marshall awoke and noticed that he didn't see Chase. He got up and walked over to Chase's pup hose. Chase lay there, it appeared that his muzzle was matted from crying.

"Oh, Chase," whimpered Marshall, he leaned down and kissed Chase on the forehead. Chase began to stir.

"M-marshall?" whispered Chase.

"You sleep a little more," said Marshall, "I got you covered."

"You shouldn't have to wake me," said Chase, rising and wiping his muzzle with his forepaw.

"It's ok," said Marshall, "I've got this morning. You just rest. I love you bro,"

"T-thanks Marshall," said Chase, laying back down.

Marshall walked the grounds and assured that everything was in its place. He returned and once again found Chase asleep. He decided to walk to the individual pup houses and wake everyone.

"Where's Chase," yawned Skye.

"He's not feeling well so I'm taking care of everything this morning," said Marshall, moving to the next pup house.

The pups wandered into the Lookout to find Ryder pouring their breakfast. Marshall walked over and picked up Chase's bowl. He turned and carried it out to Chase and set it next to him. Once again he kissed his forehead and turned to walk back inside.

"T-thanks Marshall," whispered Chase.

"No problem," said Marshall. "If you need me I'm a pup tag call away."

Chase lay there thinking. 'I just need to suck it up. I'm stronger than this. I just need to practice launching my net more.'

The pups watched a quick TV show and walked outside to play a game and noticed Chase wasn't in his pup house.

"Where'd he go?" asked Zuma.

"I'm not sure," said Marshall, "He was here when I brought his breakfast."

Marshall saw that Chase had eaten some but left the rest. He picked his bowl up and carried it back into the Lookout kitchen. He cleaned the bowl and put it away. He then returned to where the pups were playing with a tug toy.

Meanwhile Chase had gone a little ways into the woods and was practicing launching his net. He had launched it several times and decided it wasn't good enough, he had nothing to gauge if he was being accurate enough.

"Rocky?" called Chase on his pup tag.

"Go ahead Chase," said Rocky.

"Can you help me with something?" asked Chase.

"Sure Chase," said Rocky, "what can I do for you?"

"I'll come back to the Lookout and speak with you," said Chase.

Rocky and Marshall were waiting as Chase ran into the yard.

"So Chase," said Rocky, "What can I do to help?"

"Well, I want to practice launching my net," explained Chase, "I was practicing but I don't have anything to catch and I'm not sure if I'm accurate."

"I have an idea," said Rocky, he turned and ran to his pup house then came back with his ball launcher. "Here, I'll launch bean bags and you can catch them."

"Great!" yipped Chase.

Chase barked his net launcher out. Rocky fired a bean bag and Chase fired his net and caught it. They had repeated this several times, each time Chase was quicker and more accurate. Marshall came running over hoping to praise Chase for his accuracy when he tripped flying through the air. Chase turned and fired his net out catching Marshall.

"Well, I didn't plan to use live things for net practice, but thanks for volunteering," laughed Chase.

"I totally meant to do that," laughed Marshall.

"Sure Marshall," laughed Rocky, "stick with that."

"Thanks guys," said Chase. "I feel better."

"Anytime Chase," said Rocky.

"And Marshall," said Chase, "Thanks for this morning."

"Chase," said Marshall, "You can ask anytime, but if it will help I'll wake up with you and walk with you in the mornings."

"I appreciate it," said Chase.

Chase decided to go to town and grab a snack at Mr. Porter's. He walked in as Mr. Porter was picking up his phone.

"Oh, Chase," said Mr. Porter, "I was about to call Ryder. There's some mean dogs bothering my customers. Can you chase them off?"

"These paws uphold the laws," said Chase.

Chase ran over to the sitting area and saw three big dogs barking at people and jumping on the tables.

"You three, stop what you're doing and leave," said Chase, "or I'll be forced to arrest you and turn you over to Animal Control."

"You're one small pup," said the biggest of the three. "How about we beat you silly and then eat everyone's food."

"I'm a law enforcement officer," said Chase, "You really don't want to try that."

One of the other dogs had circled around behind Chase and pounced on him, knocking him to the ground. Chase hit his head and was stunned.

Mr. Porter was watching and quickly called Ryder.

The pups tags alerted, "Paw Patrol to Mr. Porters, Chase is in a fight with three street dogs. We don't have time to gather at the Lookout. Meet me there"

"Acknowledged," called all the pups running for their vehicles.

Chase rolled and jumped to his paws. The dogs surrounded Chase and began snarling and snapping at him. Chase attempted to keep moving.

"You think you're so special because that boy found you," said the biggest dog. "You're the same as us, a stray trying to survive."

"I stand on honor because I gave the Paw Patrol Pledge," yelled Chase.

"Stupid words, created by a stupid boy," yelled the dog. "You are nothing more than a street dog that got lucky. That is until today."

One of the others jumped and knocked Chase over, "Get him Rex!" the dog called out.

Rex the biggest dog, leaped on top of Chase and began clawing and biting him,

Chase rolled out from under him and jumped over kicking the dog that hit him against the side of the building hitting his head and knocking him out instantly. Chase turned and saw the smallest of the dogs flinch back. Chase bristled up growling and lunged at the dog. The dog turned and ran, yelping as he ran.

"You coward," yelled Rex.

Rex turned and saw Chase running toward him. Chase dove and Rex ducked under him. Rex grabbed Chase by the scruff and began shaking him roughly.

Ryder and the pups pulled up and saw Chase being shaken.

"Chase!" Marshall yelled as he dove out of his vehicle and ran toward Rex and Chase. Rex saw him coming and threw Chase at Marshall knocking him off his feet.

"You're nothing pup," yelled Rex. "You can't even fight. You're not even worthy to be called a dog. I'll deal with you later."

Rex turned and ran from the area.

"Chase!" yelled Ryder as he ran over to his bleeding pup.

Marshall was getting to his feet. Chase tried to rise but collapsed from sheer exhaustion.

"No Chase," cried Marshall. "Stay down, you're hurt. Let me bandage your wounds."

"He called me nothing," wept Chase. "He was just too strong."

"Chase, he was twice your size," said Ryder.

"Dude, you fought three of them and took one out," said Zuma, looking at the unconscious pup.

Rocky ran over and tied the pup's paws together. "Ryder, call animal control."

Ryder did so.

"Ryder, I need to get Chase to Katie," said Marshall. "He is going to need stitches for a few of these bites. He also needs to be checked for other injuries."

"Ok, We'll wait here for animal control to come get this one," said Ryder.

Marshall and Rocky loaded Chase on the stretcher and loaded him in the back of Marshall's ambulance. Marshall drove toward Katie's.

"Ryder," said Mr. Porter, walking over, "I'm so sorry. I should never have asked Chase to confront those dogs. I should have made him wait for help."

"It's ok," said Ryder. "Chase would have probably tried to stop them anyway."

Animal Control arrived and took the now awake dog. Ryder and Mr. Porter gave them descriptions of the other two. Ryder sent the pups back to the Lookout and drove to Katie's.

As Marshall pulled up to Katie's, she ran out.

"How bad is it Marshall?" asked Katie.

"He was thrown around and bitten several times," explained Marshall. "He has two deep lacerations on this right flank. I'm not sure about internally, I didn't wait to XRay him."

"Let's get him inside," said Katie, "I'll get these cleaned up and stitched. Then we'll check for others."

"D-did he get away?" whispered Chase.

"Don't worry about that right now," said Marshall.

"But I let him get away," said Chase.

"Chase, you're hurt," said Katie. "Let's fix you up and then we'll find out maybe Ryder was able to catch him."

Ryder walked in.

"I'm sorry Ryder," said Chase. "I wasn't strong enough. It's like Rex said, I'm not worthy to even be called a dog." Chase slowly closed his eyes, went limp, and was silent.

"NO!" cried Marshall.

"Chase? Chase buddy?" cried Ryder.

Cliffhanger, because I'm a mean guy, LOL.