PAW Patrol: Marshall Gone Missing.

Chapter 15

Feeling better, Wocky?" asked Zuma as the gang watched Ryder finish wrapping up his leg in the medical room. Beside the leg brace, Rocky had an ice pack over his hurt eye that he held with his good paw.

"Yeah, much better," replied the injured pup.

Ryder rubbed Rocky on his back and asked, "Rocky, how did you get injured? I took a closer look at that wound and it was definitely from a bite. A dog bite specifically."

"You mean someone attacked Rocky?" asked Skye before growling. "What kind of jerk would do that?"

Rocky whimpered, but Ryder held him in his arms and began to pet him. "It's okay, Rocky. You can tell us."

Rocky hesitated, but sighed. Knowing that they weren't going to drop this he decided to come out and say it. "It was Butch, Crash, and Snapper. They ambushed me, called me a nerd, beat me up, and took my hat."

"Those three? I should have known," growled Chase, who looked ready to tear something apart with his teeth.

"Who are they?" asked Ryder.

"They're three dogs that live at the junkyard near town. They're always causing trouble. Like stealing food, knocking over trash cans, or bullying dogs smaller than them," answered Rubble.

"Yeah, they've made fun of my speech all the time," said Zuma, lowering his head. "They... they say I talk like this because I'm... wetarded..."

"They what?!" shouted Chase and Ryder.

"Okay, I've had enough of these three. We have to do something to them, Ryder, sir!" shouted Chase.

Ryder gentle put Rocky on the medical bed and nodded. "Right, these three want to keep hurting our friends. I say we teach them a lesson, and get Rocky's hat back. Am I right?"

The pups all howled with anticipation as Rubble jumped up and said, "I know where those creeps hang out!"

"And I can use my sniffer to sniff them out!" said Chase as he followed Rubble out of the room.

"Wait for us! I got to see this!" shouted Skye, followed by Zuma.

Ryder was about to follow when he noticed that Marshall wasn't moving. "Marshall? You coming along?"

The dalmatian glanced at Rocky who was nursing his eye before turning to Ryder with a smile. "You go on ahead, Ryder. I'm going to watch over Rocky."

"Okay. Be back as soon as we can," said Ryder before exiting.

Marshall barked goodbye before jumping onto the bed and taking a seat next to Rocky. "Are you feeling better?"

"Not as bad as I did before, but better, thanks," muttered Rocky.

There was a long silence between the two as neither said anything to the other. Rocky wished he was just alone so he could do something, but without his good leg or his eye, he was limited. Worst of all, I can't read or invent. This stinks.

"Why did you try to hide your injuries? And the fact you were being bullied by those jerk dogs?" asked Marshall.

"I..." Rocky closed his eyes and shook his head. "It's not the first time I've been bullied. Back at the... orphanage, I read a lot and was very smart. But the other pups made fun of me for being smarter than them. So they used to make fun of me or hit me. Not as bad as this though." Rocky sighed as he thought back to the place he had known more than half his life. It was full of bad memories and he didn't like thinking about them.

"That wasn't nice of them," said Marshall, putting a paw on Rocky's shoulder. "But you're not at the orphanage anymore. You're here in Paw Patrol with the rest of us. And we always look after each other, right?"

"R-right," muttered Rocky, blushing. "H-hey, Marshall? Not that I don't appreciate it, but why did you ask to stay behind?"

"I felt you could use some company. Besides, I did hurt you after all," said Marshall, as he hopped off and wagged his tail. "Do you want to do anything? Eat? Play a game?"

Rocky chuckled. "I think I'm limited in what I can do, Marshall." He gentle waved his hurt leg and raised his ice pack of his eye a bit to show. "I doubt I can even read."

"Hmmm," thought Marshall, as he scratched his ears. He then gasped. "What if I read to you? That way you can still enjoy the story!"

Rocky was a bit taken back by this but smiled with joy. "You really do that for me? Thanks!"

"What are friends for? Now what book do you want?" asked Marshall.