Behind The Mask

Cold Disease

     After the exchange between Chase and Everest, and after calling Marshall out. The two stood in awkward silence, while they quickly dashed separate ways. But a few minutes later, Ryder called everyone over, seeing that it was night time already.

Soon, everyone met up at the bottom of the Lookout.

"Hey guys, so I've decided to postpone Secret Santa to tomorrow." Ryder said and everyone silently gasped as they didn't expect this sort of news. Everyone didn't expect this news and looked at Ryder in confusion.

"Huh? Why?" Daisy asked and Ryder only smiled at her.

"I've decided to invite a few more guests." He grinned and everyone looked over at each other in confusion once again.

"Who?" Chase asked this time, and kept his grin on his face.

"You'll just have to wait and see. They're on their way now." He teased, making the pups even more excited about mysterious guests.

Chase wasn't fond of the idea, but didn't mind either way. Just then, an idea came to the German Shepherds mind and smirked at Ryder. Wait, did he...? The police pup asked in his mind and made sure that his owner saw the smirk, visible on his face.

While the pups and their parents were going over on who the guests might be, Chase took this chance to talk to Ryder.

"So you invited her, huh?" He asked with a smirk, and already, the leader knew what the second-in-command talked about and that caused him to lightly blush.

"What? What is that supposed to mean?" He whispered, hoping not to attract attention from the others.

"Nothing, nothing." Chase shrugged off, making his owner annoyingly look at him. Not you too...The ten year old boy sighed.

And with that, the German Shepherd pup already knew one of the guests that he invited. Just then, Chase sniffled.

"A-A-Achoo!" He sneezed, his ears dropped and his head hung a little bit low. This got everyone's sudden attention and turned to the small pup.

For some reason, the room became warm...a little too warm for Chase. His eyes began slowly wincing, as if he was struggling to stay awake.

Ryder kneeled down to the pup.

"Achoo!" The police pup sneezed once again, now Ryder became a little bit worried and kneeled down to him.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he placed his hand on the pup's forehead.

"I-I'm not so sure. I've been sneezing for a little bit." He admitted and Ryder frowned as he removed his hand.

"Your forehead is a bit hot. Marshall, can you check his temperature, just to make sure?" He asked and the Dalmatian nodded as he quickly grabbed his pup-pack with his emergency kit.

"Ruff! Thermometer!" The red pup barked out and a thermometer came from his pup-pack and already knowing what to do, Chase opened his mouth and closed down as the thermometer began checking his temperature.

"Achoo!" Chase sneezed again and shot the thermometer of his mouth and it ricochet off the walls and smashed right next to Marshall which caused him to jump. They all stared for a moment, backing away a little bit while their concerned looks were now focused on the German Shepherd.

"Huh, well it seems like he's got a cold." Marshall concluded. Chase listened in, but he didn't seem bothered by it. Everest on the other hand, began wondering if it was because she made him play out in the snow for a while.

"Do you think...it's because..." Everest began and immediately, Marshall knew what she was gonna say.

"No, I don't think so. It takes one to three days to develop the symptoms, right?" Rocky asked and Marshall nodded, confirming the green pup.

"He was already sick before." Marshall added.

Just then, Chase's eyes widened.

Flash Back

Claw and Sparks landed through the trees and softly planted right into the ground while Chase landed close nearby, but landed in a lake of the park. The sudden splash and the icy coldness of the water quickly made Chase's eyes widen. More pain was added when Chase harshly landed in the lake, like a thousand knives have just been stabbed into his whole body.

"Gah!" Chase gasped as he finally reached the surface of the water. He looked around and didn't see Sparks or Claw in sight. Quickly feeling the immense pain on his body, Chase quickly swam towards the shore, each time he paddled, the more sore his body got. As he did, he weakly walked along with grass, letting his body fall to the ground. His legs felt like they couldn't walk anymore. He was breathing heavily. Even though his entire body was sore, his back had the worst of it. Chase's paws felt like they were on fire. The water somehow made it feel worse.

"You want him!?" He yelled out and Sparks suddenly stopped, wondering if he was about to offer the pup to him.

"Then go and get him!" Jamison screamed as he pulled his arms slightly back and pushed forward, letting Chase slide off his arms and his body was in the air and the dragon's eyes widened and then Jamison watched as he saw one of Chase's eyes open and his mouth slowly formed into a cool smile.

"Ruff. Zipline." Chase whispered as his pup-pack took out it's launcher and shot a zipline around the dragon's neck which completely caught Sparks off guard. The sudden state of shock made his body lighten and made it easier for Chase to pull Sparks into the lake along with himself.

Flash Back Ends

The German Shepherd mentally slapped himself at the memory. Then, out of nowhere, his stomach began softly aching.

"Ugh." Chase softly grunted, and winced as he placed both of his paws at his stomach, but this didn't go unnoticed by Ryder.

"Chase, what's wrong?" He asked with worry in his tone. Just then, everybody gasped as they watched as the German Shepherd quickly collapsed to the ground, holding his stomach in pain. His nose became runny. Chase felt his entire body aching, groaning in pain once again.

He felt as if his entire world was falling apart. The pain was unbearable, he began breathing rapidly, as if it was the last breath he'll ever take. 

His head was aching. His heart was beating fast. He felt like he was inside an oven, being cooked alive.

"Ryder..." Chase said hoarsely, while trying to keep his eyes open at the worried Ryder. "I...I...It...h-h...hurts...ev...every....every...th...th...thing...h-h-hurts." He silently gasped, even though it was a little hard too understand, everybody heard and immediately became worried.

"This isn't just some fever." Ryder said and looked over at the worried pups.

A few minutes had gone by, and quickly, Katie stormed through the doors.

"Ryder, I came by as fast as I could." She stated and saw Ryder, sitting on one of the bean bags, while Chase was trying to relax in his arms, but his entire expression showed nothing but pain and that he felt uncomfortable. She gulped as her heart began racing. She began digging through her bag as she heard the rough coughs from the German Shepherd.

Soon, she moved her stethoscope around Chase's chest, and everyone became silent, allowing Katie to listen to his heartbeat and breathing more clearly. Ryder had a sad frown this whole time, mentally begging Katie to figure out what is wrong with him and give him the solution. Everyone sat in silence and shock. All of them became worried, especially Kushina and also Skye.

"So? Is he gonna be okay?" Sylvia asked.

"Please tell me he is." Liberty begged.

"Por favor dile a mi amigo que estará bien." Tracker whimpered

"It's..it's just a bad cold...right?" Rubble asked with a weak smile, trying to make everything sound just okay.

Katie sighed as she finally removed her tool from her ears and from Chase's chest. She gave Ryder a sad frown.

"I'm afraid it's not just a cold. I've listened for a little bit and judging by the symptoms, Chase doesn't only have the cold." She began as she sadly stared at Chase, and looked back at Ryder.

"He has the flu."