Paw Patrol: Rescue Force

S1 E22: Pups Turn On The Lights! Happy Birthday, Chase!

November 13th, 2029

Today was an extraordinarily windy day for the town of Adventure Day... but for Ben and the PAW Patrol, it was one of the most important days of the year. Today was Chase's eighth birthday! You only turn eight once, and the group wanted to make the festivities as amazing as possible.

At that moment in time, the sun was beginning to set, the skies turning that shade of orange, pink, and purple when the sun went down. Ryder, Rubble, Skye, Rocky, Marshall, Zuma, Alex, and Callie were helping set up the party for their beloved German Shepherd at Katie's pet salon/clinic.

Rocky was helping set up the streamers using his old launcher invention, the one that he had used all those years ago to save Callie in the junkyard. "If Chase's party is half as fun as decorating it, then it'll be the best one ever!" Rocky exclaimed.

"You bet it will be, but one of the most important pieces of any party is the birthday cake!" Katie reminded the group.

Skye then looked around at everyone present before noticing that Ben wasn't helping with the setup. "Hey, where's Ben? And who's making sure that Chase won't walk in on us while we set up the party? I thought Marshall was going to do that!" Skye asked.

The spotted puppy chuckled nervously. "You know I'm not the best at keeping secrets, Skye... and you know that Chase has been acting a bit weird towards Ben lately." Marshall answered.

"Exactly! I wanted those two to resolve their differences and get to the bottom of what's going on." Ryder affirmed, setting down some party hats.

"Plus, Ben's really good at keeping secrets! Remember the Halloween costume surprise he made for Ryder, with that Red Ranger suit? And he had his own Green Ranger one!" Rubble pointed out. Everyone nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, as the rest of the group prepared for the celebration, Ben and Chase were playing in the park. Ben was trying to think of other things to do. "Ben, we've been playing fetch for over twenty-five minutes now... is something wrong?" Chase asked.

Ben paled in response. Shoot, he's onto me! What should I do? Ben thought to himself. Wracking his brains quickly for an answer, he decided to come clean... not about the birthday party, but about the other thing. Ben sat down on the playground slide, motioning for Chase to come over. "Okay, Chase... Well, I've noticed something off between us as of recently. Like, you sometimes seem bitter towards me, and at other times you seem to be really happy when I give you attention." Ben explained.

Chase sighed. "It's nothing, really." Chase mumbled, a little uncomfortable with this subject.

Ben was tempted to back off, but he knew he had to keep pushing. "No, Chase, it isn't nothing. If we keep putting this off, it might turn into something that could impede our ability to work together." Ben insisted.

Chase growled, before standing up and shaking his head. "I don't want to talk about it. It's stupid." Chase growled, a bit more forcefully.

Ben changed his tactics, going for a more somber approach. Ben picked up the pup and hugged him tightly. It felt a little awkward, but maybe he could use that to his advantage. "Chase, you know you can come to me with anything, right? We were there together at the start of the PAW Patrol. I know you're closer with Ryder than you are with me, but that doesn't mean that I don't care equally as much about you." Ben solemnly said.

"Do you, though?" Chase blurted out.

Ben froze up at that question. "What do you mean, do I?!" Ben asked nervously.

Chase leapt out of Ben's hug and landed on the ground, before meeting Ben's gaze with a sad, somber expression. "Well... after Marshall joined, you started spending more time with him. And when Skye and the others joined... you kept spending more and more time with them, and less time with me. After you took Alex home from Farmer Yumi's... well, I feel like we barely spend any time together anymore." Chase whimpered.