Chapter fifty-two: Snow and Bells
Chester landed Chase flat on his back by the shoulders, but laughing and snorting with happiness.
"Ow.. ok.. time out I think," Chase decided, lifting his head but dropped it again with a smile remaining on his face despite the soft expression of discomfort from their recent roughhousing match.
"Gotcha," Chester complied, stepping off of him so he could roll up onto his feet and shake himself out with a few circular flexes of the shoulder.
Rocky and Skyler hopped up as soon as they turned back and saw everyone, Ryder merely lifted his gaze and set his book aside so he could stand up.
"Hey how did the shopping go, guys?" Rocky asked, as Skyler bounded lightly through the group and squiggled in between Rayla and Kylie to bring them in for a tight hug.
"Awwww," Snowflake cooed at the hugging pups.
"Shopping went fine, Rocky. We all got what we needed," Ned answered.
"Great! And we got all that we needed to do done too," the gray pup replied. "So I guess we're all on track for Christmas already."
"Mine was easy, just as I thought, but someone else's may take a little longer," Chester's eyes rolled over to the nearly identical set right next to him.
"I didn't have it all figured out until now," Chase defended with quite a surrendered tone.
"That's fine Chase," Snowflake said casually. "You still got time."
"And lucky for me, Ryder and I made a plan that we'll be able to execute post haste. Meaning I won't have my shadow on my back for very long, thank goodness," Chase's nod indicated exactly who they expected and his blunt gaze turned fully to him at the last part of his statement.
"Good, so do we go wrap our presents separately now or what?" Ned asked Ryder.
Many blinking eyes among them realized this fact and also looked to Ryder for insight.
"We can wrap everything whenever you like," the boy replied. "We've still got time before Christmas, a whole week at least. Plenty of time if you don't wanna worry about it right now."
Curious expressions looked among themselves and some decided ones nodded to those that seemed uncertain.
"Sounds like a tomorrow project I think," Chester supposed, when all eyes returned to Ryder.
"Yeah. Sounds like a plan," Snowflake agreed.
"But for now.." everyone looked around to find the origin of the voice when they looked over to find Chase next to the elevator at about the same time.
"Snow time!" Barking for his prepared launcher, small white specs exploded from the barrel, showering them all and even plinking off their noses.
Blank glances looked down at the mess and Marshall's paw barely touched the pearly white plush of debris that was next to him.
"Marshmallows?" He quoted giving Chase an odd look.
"Awww they're mini marshmallows.." Skyler cooed, bending down to look at them a little closer. "Like the ones you usually put in hot cocoa.. mm delicious." Licking her lips sealed the response, as she prepared to snatch one up and eat it.
"Nice!" Snowflake exclaimed happily.
"Mmmmm," Ned and Melody hummed as they licked their lips too.
"And there's more where that came from.." Chase informed them forwardly. "So watch out! Ruff! Launch!" Another burst of edible pillowy softness exploded and showered them once again, making several pups among the cluster retreat laughing.
Whereas others simply stood there either to catch some marshmallows in their mouths or just enjoy the sensation of the tiny pillow puffs bouncing off their faces.
"Yay! It's raining marshmallows!" Melody said, as she opened her mouth to catch the falling food.
"Wah-hoo!" Skyler howled, running in circles.
"Delicious!" Brian declared as he ate a few.
"*chomp* Mmm yummiest snow ever!" Marshall hummed, after catching a mallow in his mouth.
"I wonder how many I can fit in my mouth?" Ned wondered before opening his mouth wide.
"Don't try that!" Kylie gasped. "You'll choke!"
"Careful, husky brother. No chipmunk challenge!" Snowflake reminded her brother.
"Awww.." Skyler and Ned groaned, then slyly threw a paw full at one another in turn.
Chase lightly chuckled, satisfied by their enjoyment as he stood there watching with his tail still steadily wagging.
"I hope we don't get in trouble for making a mess and wasting all these marshmallows," Rayla noted looking around at the makeshift snow littering the floor around them.
"Not really, they were given to us by a shop in town," Rocky explained. "They accidentally received too many units in an order and they're gonna be expired soon so they can't sell them after that. So they gave some away and we were one of the first ones on the list. We've got marshmallows coming out of our ears.."
"And since they're about to be expired.." Marshall implied.
"We get to play with them!" Zuma howled, loading Chase's cannon once again. "Bomb's away!" Another blast made the group start to laugh and run, the excitement in the air igniting the drive to become party animals and throwing the marshmallows up like a confetti.
At some point, they even started rolling in them like they would on a snowy day outside, and making snow-pup angels. Any marshmallows in the bags were either eaten or launched with the rest. By the time they'd all worn themselves out, the marshmallows were gone or nearly gone and many were smashed into the floor and possibly even on the walls as well.
"And now.. the clean up.." Chester figured, as Ryder arrived with some basins of water.
"Of course," Snowflake responded casually.
"Wait, if they are almost expired, do we need to be concerned about getting sick?" Ned asked.
"Only if you eat too many. Thank goodness we were careful," Melody commented to her husky brother.
"I did say 'almost' expired.. so we should be fine regardless," Chase clarified. "Besides, it's a great holiday treat since we can't have chocolate."
"He's right!" Rubble agreed. "One year Ryder gave us all a marshmallow candy cane and hung them on our tree while we were sleeping so we could be surprised by them on Christmas Day."
"Marshmallow candy cane?" Tiny quoted.
"Is that even a thing?" CiCi wondered, arching an eyebrow in confusion.
"Apparently yes," Marshall said, stepping further into the center of the group. "And they were just as good if not better than regular marshmallows. And it might've only been because it was shaped like a candy cane."
"Was it because of the shape or the flavor?" Melody asked with a smirk.
"Just shaped," Skye and Zuma replied together.
"But they were still really good," Rocky beamed happily.
"Sounds like a good alternative to the latter," Boomerang supposed. "But then I suppose the latter would also be quite the opposite."
"Oh yes!" Melody agreed happily.
"So are we going to clean up, or eat the snow we made?" Snowflake asked with a smile.
Rocky rolled a wagon over and in it were many brushes of various sizes.
"Looks like we're going ice skating in a different way today," Chester commented and Chase simply had to roll his eyes and sigh humorously when meeting his smug grin.
"You want us to skate on the marshmallows? Okay, if you insist.." Ned said before jumping onto the gooey mess on the floor.
"Ned no!" Snowflake said, as she tackled her brother and held him down. "We're not skating on the snow. We're skating on the brush while cleaning the snow marshmallows. Right Rocky?"
"If that's the case, where's the shovels? You shovel snow, not clean it!" Brian stated matter-of-factly.
Chase stepped a paw lightly onto the gooey mess, but pulled it away when the sensation was too much.
"Ick, could we even shovel it if we tried?" He wondered in disgust.
"Maybe, but we don't want to mess up the floor either!" Snowflake guessed. "Ryder would be mad if we cracked the floor and needed to repair it."
"Don't worry, guys," Rocky reassured them, as he threw out a set of brushes for Skye. "This is how we clean all the time."
"In fact, this is how Ryder taught us to clean up in here," Zuma added, having to bend his neck toward them from standing on a set of brushes all his own.
"You sure you're okay Zuma? We don't want you to fall over, and have to clean you up too," Ned asked half joking.
"Beep beep. Attention pups, attention. Clean up on aisle Zuma near the front doors," Brian joked pretending to be a store announcer. The two huskies hugged Zuma kindly before separating.
"Totally dudes," the chocolate lab replied coolly. "I got this.. after all.. gotta have killer chill to ride the waves."
"True," Ned and Brian said simultaneously.
"After we clean up," Rocky began as they continued to prepare for cleaning. "There's a Christmas movie on, we can watch it, then go play outside before it gets too dark out."
"Sounds like a great idea!" Skyler barked. "And we can still have plenty of holiday cheer for the marathon next week! We'll get the whole day to express our holiday spirit before the town banquet, won't that be fun?! Huh huh? Won't it? Won't it!?" The border collie's excitable nature bubbling into her fellow Pals' space did seem a bit intrusive to them, but their smiles and amused shaking of their heads still allowed them to not seem too unnerved by it at all.
"That sounds like a great idea! Eeeeeeheheheheheeeeee!" Snowflake agreed before squealing with excitement.
"Now we have two Christmas loving pups!" Ned commented.
"What are you talking about? We're all Christmas pups!" Skyler countered, almost indignantly.
"When it's appropriate," CiCi added, sending knowing smiles among her friends.
"Of course! I just meant some of us really like the holidays," Ned responded as he watched his husky sister bounce with Skyler.
"Definitely some more than others.." Chester decided. "My levels go up and down depending on the time."
"So I guess let's focus on our work," Marshall supposed.
"But first.." Skye smiled playfully. "How bout we get some holiday tunes to jam out on while we work!"
Everyone perked up when they heard this, as Skye ran off toward the tv then all developed a smile of their own.
"Yeah!" They all exclaimed as the cockapoo hit the button with a backflip and the jamming work session began!
XXXX
Zuma was sleeping peacefully when suddenly a loud bell sound startled him awake.
"Wake up, pups!"
"*yawn* Chase?" His brown eyes opened upside down to find the German Shepherd standing over him with a Santa hat on his head and a bell in his mouth by the wooden handle.
"Yes, pay attention," he rambled a little bit, through the handle in his mouth. "Help me get everyone up. Marshall!"
Zuma rolled over and yawned again, standing up slowly to start following him.
The Dalmatian was completely thrown off guard by the bell ringing in his ear.
"Come on, guys, it's Christmas Eve, there's no time to lose!" Chase told him, after setting his bell down, then grabbed it again to run off.
Rocky and Skye stirred on the other side of the noise
Rubble jumped up, almost knocking his head on his pup house ceiling.
Chase ran inside and started ringing his bell.
Skyler scurried up in a panic, knocking into Rayla, who had done the same. Kylie yelped, falling onto Tiny and CiCi somehow was the only one who took her time to respond.
"Huh? Is it Breakfast?" Brian asked.
"I don't smell anything cooking.." Tiny yawned, as he recovered himself.
"Well someone's in a jolly mood!" Melody said casually.
"Bells? Is Santa here?" Ned asked with excitement.
"Ah! I hear bells! Is someone wearing them on their collar?" Snowflake asked before waking up.
"Not exactly," Rayla sighed, rolling herself up with a yawn.
"What do you - Oh, good morning Chase," Snowflake responded.
"Ugh, why are we awake so early again?" CiCi grumbled, heavily turning her body over her shoulder to begrudgingly get up.
"Because it's Christmas Eve and it's time to get busy," Chase declared, his stately manner erected by his formal stance and extensive police discipline, which had felt quite dormant for some time; as they soon realized.
"Get busy with buying and wrapping our gifts for each other?" Snowflake guessed.
"Well we finished the buying part last week, remember?" Skye remarked.
"And even the stuff Ryder was helping us make were completed just a couple days ago," Chase replied. "And actually I saw Ryder finishing the last of the wrapping yesterday so we should be ready to go now."
"Wow, nothing gets past you apparently," Tiny commented. "Guess you really are back to being you."
"Don't tell Chess that," Chase countered mildly. "He'd try to remind us that I'm not a hundred percent yet."
"Matter of fact," he followed up. "He'd probably say something more technical like I'm only ninety-six percent or something."
"You got that right." Looking toward the voice, they all expected exactly what they saw. Boomer and Chester entered with the Prescotts right behind them.
"And we brought a little friend to hang out for the day," Frank said, setting a small kennel down and roughly taking a knee to open the door. And from it darted a brown little blob that tumbled flat before them. But when they eased slightly closer the furry head popped up with bright eyes and a wagging tail. The little shepherd's tongue hung from its mouth for some loud panting, then it barked a few yips and scrambled up to run circles in the space it had among them.
Chase instinctively turned from what he was doing to run through the group and dive over the rolling pup. When it saw him though, it was soon on its feet and Chase's crouch instigated a bit of rough housing that surprisingly looked on the little pup's level even despite the size and strength difference between the two. The pup caught Chase's ear and he shook his head to free it in only a few shakes. He let the pup pounce on him, keeling over naturally and wrapping the pup to keep it on top of him so he wouldn't hurt it when he rolled flat onto his back. The pup snatched Chase's collar and his tiny little growl rendered so much cuteness as he yanked on it like he were playing tug.
"Awwww, such a cute puppy!" Snowflake cooed.
"Careful dude don't squish him," Chester cautioned his brother.
"Gimme some credit.." Chase replied simply, as the pup toyed with his ear again.
"Is this a new pup or have you had it for a while?" Melody asked Frank.
"One of our older pups from this year," the old man replied. "He's still only a few months old, but he'll do nicely for tonight's gifting."
"Boy or girl pup?" Ned asked as he watched the playful interaction.
"Boy.." Billy answered proudly. "He's actually not related to our boys, but he's from a great line of shepherds. He'll grow up to be just as big and strong as these guys in no time at all."
"Merry Christmas Eve, Frank!" Brian greeted.
"Merry Christmas, son," Frank beamed, nodding thankfully. "Sounds like we've got a jam-packed day ahead of us, so what are we all standing around here for?"
"Yes!" Chase confirmed. "Let's actually start with a game! I hear Pup Pup Boogie as a fun new Christmas themed game. Anyone up for a holiday dance-off?"
"Yes please!" Snowflake responded happily with many of her friends and lots of tail wags.
Heyo! We're back! Man we've been slacking! But we're working through it and in fact push through to the end which is in sight! Hope you guys had fun with this chapter and we hope to see you back in the next one! Thx!