Different Horizons-A Paw Patrol Story

Chapter Forty-Two

Ryder drove the Silverado to the left as the three teams exited the garage. He parked the truck on the side of the road, put their destination on the GPS, and continued forward.

At first, Ryder, Rocky, and Zuma rode in silence. Zuma looked out the back seat window while Rocky was in the passenger seat, playing with a Rubix Cube he found on the seat.

After a minute of riding in silence, Ryder spoke up. "So," he said. "How's it like to be human?"

"What?" Rocky and Zuma asked in unison.

"How's it like to be human?" Ryder repeated. "We haven't gotten the chance to talk about it."

Rocky looked at the cube in his hands. "It's pretty cool," he replied.

"Yeah," Zuma agreed. We could do a lot more things with hands instead of paws. Last night, I was trying to figure out chopsticks."

"How did that go?" asked Ryder.

"I poke myself in the eye," Zuma admitted. "But I got the hang of it." The three of them laughed.

"At least you're making the most out of it," Ryder said.

"Well, we still have much to learn," Rocky said.

Ryder could sense a deeper meaning behind Rocky's words. Last night, Chase told Ryder what happened with The Copycat, revealing everyone's insecurities. He also remembered how Rocky and Zuma wanted to go with Ryder. Maybe now was a good time to be a leader.

"You know, you can talk to me about things, right?" Ryder asked.

Rocky stopped playing with the cube and looked at Ryder. "Like what?"

Ryder shrugged. "Anything. Is there anything that's bothering you?"

"Nothing important right now," Rocky muttered.

"Look, I don't want to pry, but I could sense you have something to say or ask." Zuma was now paying attention to the conversation.

Rocky thought about it and sighed. "I think it's unfair that Chase gets most of the attention."

"How so?"

"Well, Chase usually gets the big solo missions. Everyone has him high up in expectations. Even you show favoritism towards him."

"That's not true," Ryder protested. "I love you pups all the same."

"Not like Chase, dude," Zuma said. "He's your best friend. You two do almost everything together."

"I mean, we get it," Rocky added. "He's your first pup. But it still hurts sometimes. We all saw it, but we never said anything because we didn't want to make things awkward like now."

Ryder sighed. He wanted to protest and say it wasn't true, but Ryder knew it was. "I guess you're right," he confessed. "And yeah, Chase is my first pup and my best friend. But it goes deeper than that. When I saved him, he saved me too. Rescuing him and seeing that he had the same energy as me motivated me. It moved me to form the Paw Patrol. Thanks to Chase, I got a name for myself, not just my dad's son. For as long as I can remember, through thick and thin, Chase was by my side. He was there when we created the Paw Patrol. Chase was there when we met all of you and more. He helped me form what the Patrol is now. Chase holds a special place in my heart. But that shouldn't have affected how I treat you guys. I wish you had told me about favoritism sooner. I could've seen it earlier and stopped. I'm sorry."

"We don't hold it against you. We know you didn't mean to do it on purpose," Rocky said.

"But it'd be nice to go on more missions, too," Zuma said. "I know that as a water pup, I don't have the right skills for the missions. I would still like to tag along whenever I can."