A Paw Patrol Story 12: Forgiving Yourself

Chapter 4

    Champ had returned to the Lookout, running right into Grace. "Whoa, whoa, Champ, what's going on?" She asked in concern, trying to calm Champ down. "Where's Matthew, now?" Champ replied. "He's with Chase in his puphouse right now. Just tell me what's going on." Said Grace, patting Champ's head, trying to keep him calm. "Vaati was there with Matthew while he was by himself, I could feel a powerful darkness within Matthew. Vaati did something to him."

Grace:What?

Champ:I need to talk to him, now!

Grace:Okay, okay, just be calm.

    Champ walked over to Chase's puphouse, seeing Matthew and Chase just chatting. "Hey!" Champ shouted, looking directly at Matthew. "You and I need to talk, now!" Chase stood up and yelled at Champ. "What's your problem?" "Matt and I need to have a little talk about what happened in the forest." Champ replied. Chase then looked at Matthew. "What's going on?" He asked. Matthew sighed as he looked up at Champ. "You know, don't you?" "You idiot! You were talking to Vaati, weren't you?"

Matthew:I was. He appeared...

Champ:What did he do to you? Don't even think of trying to lie, I could sense that dark power from within you from miles away.

Matthew:He gave some of his dark power to me. He asked me if the people of Adventure Bay fear us?

Chase:Fear us?

Matthew:Me, Champ, Grace, and Moby.

Champ:(Sighs) He's tricking you, buddy. You're smarter than this.

    Just then, Grace, Lucas, and Hikari came over. "What's going on?" Asked Lucas, slightly tilting his head a little in confusion. "It's nothing..." Matthew said, starting to get a bit uncomfortable. "Matt, you okay?" Grace asked, lowering her head close to the tiny human. "I said it's nothing!" Matthew shouted, glaring at Grace, making the Rockruff back up a little. "I'd calm down if I were you, tiny." Hikari growled, staring directly at Matthew.

Champ:Matt, chill out!

    Joshie, Rocky, Zuma, and the other pups came over. "What's with all the noise?" Joshie asked, feeling concerned. "Please..." Matthew said as he pressed both of his hands against his head, starting to shake a little. "Okay everyone, stop it!" Chase shouted loudly, making the others immediately go silent. "This isn't helping him, or any of us." Champ growled at Chase and barked, "We can't help him if he doesn't tell us what happened!" Chase sighed, "You want him to forgive you for what you did? But at the same time, you refuse to forgive yourself for what happened. He forgave you, sure, he made a mistake, a huge one, but nevertheless, he forgave you. So, why won't you forgive yourself?" Hearing this made Champ look away from the police pup.

Champ:That is none of your concern...

Chase:Maybe not my concern, but it is Matt's concern, don't you think?

Champ:Tch...

    Hikari walked over to Champ. "You fear the darkness inside him, but what about the darkness inside you?" Shiba Inu asked. "I'm not the one who was chosen to save a dying kingdom! He falls into darkness, then all will be lost!" Champ said. "Guys... Please stop arguing." Lucas begged, trying to keep Champ and Hikari from getting into an altercation. "Step aside, Spots!" Hikari shouted, shoving the African Wild Dog out of the way. "Hikari, stop!" Joshie said, trying to pull the Shibia Inu away from Champ, but to no avail.

Hikari:What kind of coward are you?

Champ:Who are you to call me a coward? You don't know me! No one here does!

    Grace stood up, growling loudly, and smacked Champ right in the face with a paw. The whole area had gone quiet, Champ was left in complete shock. "Quit your yapping!" The Rockruff shouted. "Aren't you supposed to be the smart one around here? When it comes to tech, you're useful! But when it comes to talking about your own feelings, you gotta be the worst I've dealt with. I've seen humans, Pokemon, and other animals more stubborn than you are that aren't afraid of their own feelings! This right here, is just sad." Seeing all of this, Matthew began to slowly back away from them while they weren't looking. "How could I be so stupid?" He thought to himself. "Champ is right, this could be just a way for me to become Vaati's vessel... But at the same time, this new power may still be of use." Seeing an opportunity, Matthew quickly finds a place to hide from the others in a part within the Lookout, a place he uses when he's either had an off day, or just wants a moment for himself.

Matthew:(Sighs) What am I going to do? This day has only gotten more and more stressful. Now I got another pup to train... Why? Why does it have to be me? I'm tired of doing things just because I'm just some chosen warrior! (Scoffs) A warrior who doesn't even remember his own damn past. What a joke.

    Back outside, Lucas decided to just walk away from those who were arguing and sat down by a tree nearby. The African Wild Dog looked up at the sky, watching as the sun was beginning to set. " Xavier, Zuri, Kofi, Imani, Addo... I pray that you are still living and breathing, I promise, I will find you and save you guys."

???:Would those be the names of your siblings?

    Lucas turned, seeing that Hikari had walked up to him, noticing a rather concerned look on the Shiba Inu's face. "Yeah, they are. I am the youngest of my pack, I wasn't very loved by my father. He saw me as just a weakling, someone who didn't matter." Hearing this, Hikari sighed as he sat down next to Lucas. "I understand how that feels, in the eyes of my brother, I'm nothing but a disgrace to my village, and my bloodline. Just because I don't see eye to eye with him."

Lucas:(Sighs) I guess we both got problems when it comes to family huh?

Hikari:Seems so.

Lucas:What happened with Champ? Has he calmed down?

Hikari:I had to back away, that dalmatian seems to be talking to him.

Lucas:He's very calm around Marshall from what I've noticed, hopefully then he'll calm down.

Hikari:Hmm, where's the little human?

Lucas:Huh... To be honest, I'm not sure where Matthew went. Probably went somewhere to get away from Champ. Can't say I blame him, but he didn't make a very smart decision either.

Hikari couldn't help but chuckle as he patted Lucas' head. "Sounds like you have a pretty interesting teacher." Hearing this made Lucas giggle a little, leaning into the pets. "We better look for Matthew, gotta make sure he's okay." Said Lucas as he stood up and began to walk around. "Right!" Hikari replied, following Lucas. "Any idea where he could be?"

Lucas:I can't sense his energy, he's probably masking it, guess he really wants to be alone. But he should still be around here somewhere.

Hikari:(Sighs) If he wants to be alone, then maybe we should let him be. Give him time, he'll come out of time eventually.

Lucas:Yeah... You're probably right. Also, I want to apologize for the way I treated you when we first met.

    Hikari smiled and shook his head. "I should be the one apologizing, the spirit champion chose you for a reason, it's not my place to judge you or the one who chose you. Lucas... There's something I need to tell you, something I didn't want to mention to the others." Lucas titled his head in confusion. "What is it?" He asked. Hikari sighed as he looked up at the sky. "Before arriving here, and before meeting Joshie, I fought against my former comrade, Ritsu. During our fight, something inside me had awoken, something dark."

Lucas:I see... You make me think of what happened with Matt back in Australia. It was awful, he was like a completely different person. He tried to kill me and Champ. He kept laughing, as if he was enjoying everything he was doing.

Hikari:Interesting and very terrifying.

Lucas:No kidding!

    Back inside the Lookout, Matthew found himself just staring at his keyblade and the Sheikah Slate. "What's the point of all this?" He asked himself. "I wield the keyblade to fight against the darkness, but now that I have this dark power, does it even matter? The only way I can protect them from the darkness inside me, is by leaving... But to even do something so drastic requires quick thinking, and careful planning to make sure that the others don't catch onto my plan, or do anything to stop me. I hate having to even think this way, but it's the only way to protect them from me." Matthew then stood up, starting to figure out his plan to run away.

Matthew:I first gotta start with the security, Ryder had upgraded it ever since Copycat and his allies had attacked, monitoring me, and the pups with tracking devices, along with new security cameras that have been placed around the Lookout. The cameras and tracking device are easy to deal with, but the problem will be Chase, Champ, and Grace's strong sense of smell, along with Champ's great sense of hearing. There's no time to find a way to mask my scent, not sure there is anything around here for that to even be possible...

     Matthew then proceeded to write everything down on a small notebook he was carrying, making sure to memorize every part of his plan. But as he was writing, he began to have second thoughts, worried about what might happen if he were to just leave Adventure Bay, especially on his own. "I'd have nowhere to go, can't go to Puplandtis, they'd just send me right back, no clue where Sid and Arrby are. Could probably go to BarkingBurg, but Sweetie or the Princess would just end up calling the Paw Patrol over there at some point. And I'm aware that there is no way in tricking Champ into opening a portal to a different world or even bothering to teach me that ability... Guess I'm just gonna have to find another way to get as far away as possible without my gadgets in order to avoid being tracked. All I know is, if something happened to these pups, I won't be able to live with myself... Especially if I'm the one who ends up snapping and hurting them."

That will be it for now, I hope everyone has enjoyed this new chapter. Will Matthew's plan to run away work? If so, how will everyone react? Sorry for the extremely long wait, lots of things have been going on in my life right now. Anyways, I hope you all are having a good day and are looking forward to the next chapter, whenever that eventually comes out. And as a reminder, Joshie belongs to JoshiePlushie.