The Wounds We Heal

Chapter eight: Pupsicles!

Paws touched the cool flow of crystal blue,.. and even the reflection they looked down into was a bit of a relief.

"Please tell me this means we're done with bed sheets for a while." Chase remarked, looking up from the water.

"Haha. You looked like a cute blue ghost, though," Snowflake commented.

"Good thing I grabbed that blue sheet from Rocky's truck. Sorry for borrowing it without asking Rocky," Ned added.

"No worries." Rocky smiled, then flinched at a sudden splash of the gurgling water dripping his way.

Zuma and Rubble dunked themselves under and came back up a little cleaner than before, rubbing the stickier places to help remove the squished berry from their coats.

Snowflake and Ned also washed the berry juice off.

"It is nice to not feel sticky anymore." Snowflake said.

"Oof! You said it!" Chase breathed, shuttering.

"What's wrong, dude?" Zuma wondered, maintaining a smile. "Don't you like smelling fruity?"

"Not when it throws me off." Chase shook his head. Sniffing a couple times, he searched back towards the path that led away from the river, while remaining in the water. "What if we can't find our way back?"

"Um.. bro? It's daylight." Chester corrected his brother with some amount of sarcastic flair. "I think we'll be able to find our way.. Even if you can't smell your way back."

"That's what we have Skye here for.." Rocky added, smiling a bit awkwardly at the Cockapoo.

"They don't call me the sky-high scout for nothing." Skye beamed. "Plus,.. I.. kinda need to get all this.. fruity slime off."

"You and me both, sister!" Chester chimed.

"Oh please, Chess, talk normal!" Chase groaned, obviously embarrassed.

"Heh, heh, got him!" Chester murmured to the other pups, more specifically Skye.

"Huh? Heee heee! Hahahahaha! S-something .. is ... tickling me! Hahahaha!" Snowflake said as she tried not to laugh.

At first, the pups looked up at her with an odd look, but when something began to rise up from the water a few of them became attentive.

"Hey, it's just a turtle.." Rocky said, as they all drew near.

"Aww,.." the pups swooned, all looking closely at the little turtle on the husky's back.

"She's so cute!" Skye gushed.

"And check out that cool star on her shell." Zuma noted.

"Wait.." Chase said, catching something about Zuma's statement.

The turtle looked up at them and made a noise that very well could've been a laugh, as it tickled the pup under her one last brief moment.

"Star?!" Chase gasped.

"What?" the pups vocalized. Then suddenly another head shot up from the surface of the water making them all jump. Pretty soon a total of eight heads had surfaced and they all turned toward the pups with little chirping noises and they swam toward them.

"Uh.. what is happening?" Rubble asked, as they all edge back away from them.

"Relax guys.." Chase told them, strolling toward them from another direction. "Don't you recognize these guys?"

Then taking another look, the expressions on their faces finally cleared the way for a new one.

"The turtles!!" the pups gasped.