(Running Through Time) ~ A Yearbook of Chase and Marshall ~

Chapter 9 pt 2

Finally, after a long trip, they arrived at the wild autumn forest. It was called wild because the forest itself isn't taken care of anyone.

"I'm glad I accepted your offer, Chase. This place is reaaaally beautiful!" Marshall panted happily.

"Even myself is happy to see this place!" Chase also panted. "Let's try to find a place for us to stop, so we can enjoy the scenery!"

The road they went onto leads to the mountain that was mentioned earlier. But, since they had no intention to climb the mountain, they turned around and found a small pond.

"This is okay, I guess." Chase turned off his engine.

"Yep, this place feels right for me." Marshall parked his truck beside his brother's car and turned off the engine. Both of them jumped off from their vehicles.

"Arff! Dog house!" They barked together and transformed their vehicles into dog houses.

"Let me put Ryder's bag in my house. Wait." Chase took Ryder's bag to his dog house and put it inside. After everything's ready, he went out from his house.

"So... how about if we play first?" Chase looked at Marshall.

"Play what?" Marshall tilted his head.

Chase giggled for a second and tapped Marshall's body. "You're it!" Chase laughed and ran away from Marshall.

"H-hey! That's cheating!" Marshall tried to catch Chase.

The crunchy leaves' noises, along with the laughter of two pups, filled the forest. Marshall hid in a stack of leaves and waited for his prey. When Chase wasn't aware, Marshall jumped from the pile and caught Chase. He licked his brother once and laughed.

"Gotcha! You're it, now!" Marshall stood up and hid in another pile immediately.

"Don't hide at the leaves! I'll get you, just you see..." Chase snickered and started checking some piles.

A lot of piles had been checked by the Shepherd, but there was no sign of that Dalmatian on loose. But just then, Chase saw a slow-wagging tail next to a pile.

"Aha!" Chase mumbled. He took a position and pounced on that pile. He caught Marshall, who was hiding behind that pile of leaves, and because of that pounce, the leaves got spread around.

"AH!" Marshall was surprised. Chase hugged Marshall tightly and licking him once.

"Gotcha!" Chase laughed.

"Chase, let me go!" Marshall chuckled. After a while, Marshall rolled Chase over and stood up.

Marshall had a mischievous idea. After he rolled Chase, he decided to pounce him and tickled him.

Chase laughed because he was ticklish. "M-Marshie! Stop!" He begged.

"Who cares! Marshie wants to tickle his big brother!" Marshall kept on laughing and tickled Chase. "I know you are a ticklish dog in every part of your body!" He giggled.

"B-but I r-ran o-out o-of br-breath!" Chase's laugh started to get weaker.

"Okay, okay. I'll stop." Marshall stopped and laid himself next to Chase. He laughed tiredly because he ran out of energy.

"You... ugh..." Chase tried to regain consciousness by inhaling deeply and stood up. After he regained himself, he started tickling Marshall.

"C-Chase!" Marshall laughed again, but this time because he was ticklish.

"Revenge on you!" Chase kept on tickling Marshall.

"E-enough Chase! I'm sorry!" Marshall begged for forgiveness and laughed harder. He couldn't control his laughter.

"Take that, Marshie!"

They had arrived at the small pond where they parked their vehicle. After a battle of tickling, they decided to take a rest. Chase and Marshall sat next to the pond, watching the leaves falling from the tree.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Marshall asked.

"Yep. Beautiful." Chase sighed in relief.

"Sometimes I wish we shouldn't go home." Marshall looked at Chase.

"Don't say so, Marshall! Ryder will be worried about us!" Chase also looked at Marshall.

"Eheh, I'm kidding... I mean, I don't want this to end now." Marshall laid his head on Chase's shoulder. Chase stroked his head softly.

"Me too, Marshall. But... to be honest, I'm thinking about the others." Chase nodded and looked beside him. He saw a unique-looking leaf. "Marshall, mind if you move a bit first?" Chase pushed Marshall slowly and took that leaf with his teeth.

"What are you going to do with that leaf, Chase?" Marshall looked at the leaf. It has 5 angles and looked like a flower.

"Lower your head, Marshall. But don't make it too low, just make sure I can reach your head." Chase asked.

Marshall nodded and lowered his head slowly. Chase put the leaf on his head carefully and patted Marshall's cheek to raise his head again. He did and looked at Chase.

"Did I... look weird?" Marshall raised one of his eye brows.

"You looked cute! You looked exactly like a tanuki!" Chase laughed quite hard.

Marshall didn't believe what Chase said, and looked at the pond's surface. With a small leaf on his head, he really looked like a tanuki, but dog version.

"C-Chase!" Marshall shook his head to remove the leaf and hit Chase with his paw several times. "H-how dare you!"

"Ehehe! Sorry, dear!" Chase giggled and blocked some of Marshall's attack.

In the middle of their fight, a grumbling noise could be heard.

"Eh?" They stopped.

"What noise was that?" Marshall asked.

"It... looks like one of us is hungry." Chase smiled embarrassingly.

"Man, what a party popper. Let's eat the food Ryder carried for us." Marshall shook his head.

"Let's go, then."