Behind The Mask

Camping

     The day went by as usual, the pups got called in for a mission and it was successful. But all of the pups were excited for the bonfire that was happening tonight. Even though it was going to be really close to the Lookout, it was still going to be lots of fun sleeping outside and playing other campfire games and such.

Chase was inside his pup-house and he could hear the other pups preparing their sleeping bags, games and stuff like that while Chase was already prepared for it, so he was just sitting inside his pup-house and kept track of the time.

Since it was already dark, Chase has already picked up his newly designed hoodie with the new logo on it, and decided that he will wear it tomorrow. Chase was happy with the decision he made because the hoodie now looks cooler and it's a good new change for him. Chase looked down at his blue hoodie and realized that this was going to be the last day he would ever wear it.

He suddenly heard a knock on the door. Chase opened it and saw Rocky standing outside.

"What's up, Rocky?" Chase asked.

"Hey Chase. We're moving the stuff now, do you mind helping me?" Rocky asked and Chase looked up and the sun was about to fully set.

"Sure, I don't mind." Chase said and closed the door behind him, and followed Rocky to his pup house and a couple of small water and food boxes and a sleeping bag. Chase and Rocky carried the stuff over to the bonfire and Chase studied the area and smiled. The fireplace was in the middle and there was a chair with a blanket and a pillow along with sleeping bags for the pups along with a table and the pups bowls. A couple of camping lamps, lightning up the place a little bit more.

"Looks like fun." Chase said and Rocky walked next to him.

"Yeah, I know. We haven't done something like this in some time." Rocky said and Chase laughed at that. The air was then silent as it made the atmosphere more awkward.

"I'm gonna carry my stuff now, hehe."

"Y-Yeah, you do that."

Both pups awkwardly said to each other and walked off. Rocky was a bit confused at the exchange, normally, the pups would be that kind of awkward to each other before. Why did It feel like I was talking to someone different? Rocky questioned but he quickly shrugged it off as he didn't want to think about it and just have fun.

Chase walked back inside the Lookout and saw some pups preparing some stuff for the campfire. Chase looked up at the clock and noticed:

9:50 PM

Huh, where's Ryder at? Chase wondered as he thought that Ryder would already be down here, helping out.

With Ryder

Ryder was lying on a bean bag at the top of the lookout, looking through photos of the destroyed building he heard about yesterday on his pup-pad, when Chase walked up.

"Hey Chase, what's up?" Ryder asked with a smile.

"We're all ready, Ryder sir. Are you coming?" He asked and Ryder turned off his pup-pad and got up.

"You bet, let's go." Ryder said and Chase grinned and both of them walked down the lookout and walked towards the bonfire where the rest of the pups were waiting.

"Alright pups, let's get this party started." Ryder stated and all of the pups cheered with a howl and without wasting any time, the pups began enjoying their bonfire. Soon, while Ryder and Robo Dog were preparing food to eat, the pups played games like Shadow puppets, telling scary stories, campfire songs, Truth Or Dare, Hide and Go Scare, and more games like those.

12:30 AM

It was pretty late, but everyone was still wide awake. Of course, they had to tone down the fun a little bit, so they decided to just huddle around the fire and talk with each other while Ryder placed down their food in front of them and the pups ate.

"Aw man, that's the stuff!" Rubble said as he burped and Marshall looked up from his food up to Rubble.

"Dang, you finish that food like crazy." Marshall said as he stared at Rubbles bowl in shock.

"Haha! I know, but I still can't beat my Dad at it though." Rubble said with some frustration.

"Dude, I wemember you and him having an eating contest in the amusement park a couple days ago, and I can't bewieve he ate that much so fast." Zuma said, shivering as he remembered that memory, but the other pups laughed as they remembered it also, except for Chase.

"Still though, I can't believe how fun it was. How many tickets did we win?" Skye laughed.

"Uh, I think my Dad won more than me actually. I gotta get better at those carnival games." Marshall sighed.

"Dude, you guys remember that huge water slide ride?" Zuma asked with stars in his eyes.

"That was your most favorite thing, wasn't it?" Rocky asked his best friend.

"Duh, because I got to ride with my folks. I still can't believe everyone but you and youw parents, rode it." Zuma said with a glare.

"Uh, trust me man, hatred of water runs in the family." Rocky said with his eyes closed.

"Wait, what about that Lucky Cup game? Remember when I got six of those in a row?" Everest asked with a grin.

"You were pretty lucky too. Rocky couldn't even get one of the balls into the cups." Skye said and all of the other pups and Ryder laughed.

"But let's be honest, our parents made the day wayyyyy more fun." Marshall said and the others couldn't disagree.

"Yeah. They basically played all of the games with us." Rubble added.

"Dude, we sewiously need to have them over here one day." Zuma stated and all of the pups agreed.

Chase was sitting there, with a smile only. Then the pups got into their huge conversation about their time with their families again. Hearing them talk about their families and how much they are and how much they love them really made Chase smile. He was happy his friends had a better life and such loving and caring parents.

But slowly, his smile began to fade as he realized he didn't say a single word into the conversation yet. The pups completely ignored him once again. He was just sitting there, all alone, listening to the pups talk about their happy families.

Ryder was smiling and laughing too when the pups began talking about how much fun they had, until he decided to look over at Chase and saw that his police dog wasn't saying a single word, but was being silent and his expression showed no emotion. Ryder winced his eyes a little bit as he knew it was only going to get harder to deal with if it kept going on.

"Hey, pups?" Ryder spoke over everyone and the pups turned to their leader.

"Sorry guys, but it's getting really late. Why don't we head to bed and we'll continue this tomorrow?" Ryder suggested, even though the pups were a bit upset at ending their conversation, they'd be lying if they said they weren't tired.

So the rest of the pups agreed and got into their sleeping bags. Ryder put out the fire and turned off all of the lights and the only light was being provided by the moon and the stars above the night sky.

Slowly, every pup fell asleep and so did Ryder. The only one who was awake was Chase, he kept staring at the stars as he could see them shining over one another and the moon was slowly moving along with the stars.

Chase turned his head so he could see the rest of the sleeping pups and Ryder, sleeping peacefully. They looked so innocent. They have a great life...it's just not mine. I have to deal with my problems on my own. Chase sadly thought and looked back up at the stars. Chase was up a little longer before his body finally got tired and his eyes slowly became droopy and finally fell asleep.