Could it be Her?

Sad Memories

It was a cloudy day in Adventure Bay. It was forecasted to rain later on in the day. Everyone in the town decided to spend their time indoors in preparation for the storm. Ryder and his pups were no different. Ryder was upstairs playing games on his Pup Pad, while the other pups were downstairs.

The pups normally would be smiling ear to ear at having a nice potential day off, but they couldn't help but feel off about their clearly saddened police pup.

Chase had recently seemed very gloomy. He had been seen laying down away from the other pups in any area, whether it was outside, in the lookout, or just in his pup house. The sadness present in his eyes seemed like they could have caused the weather they were currently experiencing.

The pups had noticed this for a while, but this was all so new to them. They had sad moments every once in a while, but for the most part they were a happy bunch of pups. They had no idea what to say to Chase. At first they wanted to believe this was brief and no big deal, but when it wounded up affecting Chase's attitude towards missions, they knew this was a serious situation.

They could never forget the shock they felt when Chase failed to say his notable "Paw Patrol ready for Action, Ryder sir!" line. It felt so unreal. That was something they had always come to expect. That was gone now and now he just spent his time looking off into space with a look of sadness. Sure he still went on the mission and obeyed Ryder's commands, but he never spoke unless he truly had to. Even after they had retrieved Chickaletta and returned her to Mayor Goodway, Chase just looked so indifferent. Almost as though he did not care one bit about what they had done. Mayor Goodway had whispered to Ryder about how she had noticed his strange behavior.

The pups didn't want to make it apparent that they were all speaking about Chase at the current moment so they had a movie playing in the background on the TV.

"What is up with him?" Rocky asked with a concerned look.

The pups looked back at the Shepherd. It really amazed them how a pup containing so much sadness managed to prevent a single tear from ever escaping his eyes. His seriousness really kept his emotions in check, but all emotions had to show eventually in one way or another.

"I don't know, but I'm worried about him" Marshall said as he glanced at his friend.

"Yeah, me too" Skye said as her heart ached for the sad Shepherd.

"What do we do?" Rubble asked. "He won't do anything. He just seems...depressed" the Bulldog said.

The pups shivered at the thought of what their friend must be going through.

"Well, ya know we never talked to Ryder after the mission about any of this, and he obviously noticed what we noticed. So maybe...we should ask him and see if he can tell us anything" Marshall suggested.

The pups agreed that this was a good idea. They headed to the elevator, but as Skye walked to her spot, she took another look at Chase and sighed.

The elevator rose to the top and Ryder could be seen in his chair on his Pup pad. He turned to his pups and could tell they had something on their mind.

"Hey, pups" Ryder said. "Let me guess, this is about Chase?" The boy asked.

The pups nodded.

Skye hopped into Ryder's lap.

"Ryder, what's wrong with him? He looks so broken and I feel so bad for him! He's just not the Chase we know" Skye said with tears forming.

Ryder held the Cockapoo close in comfort.

"Look, pups. After the mission yesterday, I talked to Chase about his current situation. I figured I already had a good idea about what was wrong, but I still needed to ask for clarification. I really dreaded being right" Ryder said with his head down.

The pups seemed confused.

"What do you mean Wyder?" Zuma asked.

"Yeah what are you talking about?" Skye questioned from on his lap.

Ryder hesitated before continuing.

"I'm not sure if Chase quite wants you guys to know yet, but you guys are family and you're the most trusted pups in his life so I'm sure he won't mind. Ok, so as you guys may know, just like with you guys, I didn't get Chase from a shelter or store" Ryder began.

"Wait. I actually didn't know that" Rocky said.

"Me neither actually" Marshall said. "I assumed he had been bought for you or you got him from a shelter" The Dalmatian said, baffled.

"I guess Chase never did talk about his pre-Paw Patrol days" Skye said in realization.

"Well, yeah" Ryder continued. "But unlike you guys, I found Chase in a way more dangerous situation" The boy says gravely.

The pups could feel the darker mood switch in Ryder's voice. They knew they weren't gonna like what was coming next.

"Chase was a younger pup and he was not doing well. He had clearly not eaten in a long time and he was personally grieving. Nobody paid him any attention. It was just...awful" Ryder explained solemnly.

"Grieving?" Skye said with wide eyes. "What do you mean" she asked.

Ryder stayed silent for a minute before continuing.

"Chase wasn't always alone on the streets. Obviously he came from two parents just like you guys, but he had the unfortunate experience of watching them get ambushed by wolves. Chase told me that his parents always tried to keep things lawful and made sure to do whatever was right. They were never big fighters unless it was necessary. They could've easily fought off the wolves, but there were too many. They could only hold them off long enough for Chase to get away. I ended up finding him walking up the streets days later and he looked utterly traumatized. That's when I brought him to the lookout and we started the Paw Patrol. In honor of them, I let him be a police pup that upheld the law." Ryder said in remembrance.

The pups were stunned. They could now see clearly why Chase could only stare off in sadness. This was past tears.

"I-i cant believe he went through that" Marshall said stunned.

"Me neither. That's terrible. I can't believe he was able to stay so strong and keep that in" Rocky said in amazement.

Ryder nodded.

"He told me that he started recently having nightmares about that day and now he can't help but feel partially guilty for his parent's death. He says he feels broken. Like he could've done something, but wasn't worthy of it. Sometimes he says he doesn't even feel like a worthy police pup" Ryder explains.

The pups couldn't even fathom the thought of Chase not being their police pup. His personality fit the role so well. They respected him and he respected them.

"I...I have to go talk to him!" Skye says, suddenly jumping up and running to the elevator.

"Wait a minute Skye!" Ryder calls to the Cockapoo, stopping her in her tracks. "You might not want to overwhelm him. Although he might seem like he's holding everything together well, he could easily be at his breaking point"The boy explains. "Just be gentle"

The pups nodded in understanding.

"Ryder, thanks for letting us know about this. I really had no idea Chase had such a dark past" Rubble said, grateful for the information.

"Yeah. I definitely feel like we can sympathize with him more now. Maybe we can even help him get through this dark time"  Marshall added.

Ryder nodded.

"Of course pups. He needs the support of you guys now more than ever" Ryder said.

"Well, we'll definitely do our best. For Chase" Skye said as they made their way back to the elevator to address their sad Shepherd.