Marshall and Chase: On the Skase!

(9) Rubble is on the Case!

Ryder yawned as he sat up from his bed.

He had always loved mornings in their small town. The Lookout was close enough to nature for him to hear the birds chirping, to hear the waves from the ocean crash against the land. He checked the time on his alarm clock. This was about the time he would hear Chase waking up his teammates for the day.

He wondered how he was doing, out there on that Mission PAW. Ryder sincerely hoped that he hadn't just sent his two first pups to their dooms out in Barkingburg. Giving it a moment of thought, Ryder quickly realized that there wasn't really much for them to be put in danger. The two were probably under the watchful eye of the Princess as they continued their investigation.

Meanwhile, back in Adventure Bay, the team was working through the absence of three of their own. Whenever they required one of Chase, Marshall's, or Skye's skills, they would often use whatever pup they didn't require for that mission to fill that spot.

It was sort of like the reverse of how the PAW Patrol started. Chase and Marshall started out by doing each and every job belonging to the PAW Patrol, with Chase handling policing, and eco duties. Marshall was in charge of firefighting and construction.

While there were only four jobs at the time, it sure wore them out.

The young genius stretched his arms. Maybe he should start getting around to waking the pups up—

"Rise and shine, pups!"

What...?

Two groans followed soon afterwards.

Was somebody else doing Chase's daily duty in his absence? But who? And why?

"If we get up quickly, we can catch a pre-breakfast breakfast!"

Rubble!?

The door to his room swung open, making Ryder jump a bit.

"Construction pup Rubble, reporting for duty Ryder!" Rubble saluted, "...Sir...?"

Ryder gave the Bulldog a heartfelt smile. He was able to tell that Rubble was trying his best to pick up the slack that had been left when Chase and Marshall left for Skye. Rubble was always the one turned to whenever he regarded inexperienced and naivety. He was well aware that the construction pup did his best each and every day to live up to the name of an official PAW Patrol pup.

Even though it had been years since Rubble initially joined, even Ryder himself couldn't help but to underestimate him from time to time.

Time really has flown from Rubble's first few days.

******

"Hmm..."

"Taking rubble is no trouble?"

"Nah..."

"Rubble is... ready for trouble?"

"Maybe not, I'll think about that one..."

"Bark and Bulldoze?"

"Decent... But it doesn't feel right..."

"Ugh..." Rubble let out a groan, putting his head down on his pillow, "They make it look so easy..."

It had been three days since Rubble was recruited to the PAW Patrol. He was still getting used to seeing the same people and pups every day, as back when he was a stray he was constantly on the move and seeing new faces each day. He had just gotten to learn everybody's names, memorizing them the best he could.

Ryder, Chase, Marshall, Skye, Zuma, and... Rocky, was it?

He hadn't really interacted with Rocky as much as the other pups yet. He learned the ropes of the daily PAW Patrol lifestyle from Chase and Marshall, had a bit of an older sister relationship with Skye, learned the best pup treat flavors from Zuma, but he never really talked with Rocky about anything. He seemed a lot more wrapped up in his inventions and improving them.