Behind The Mask

Leaving The Team?

     After the small interaction between him, Rocky and Tundra, Chase made his way towards Mr. Porters to see Humdinger, standing outside the door, patiently waiting for him. Chase slightly smiled as he walked up and when Arnold saw the sight of the shepherd, he smiled back.

"Alright, let's do this." Chase grinned and pushed through the door with Humdinger nervously following behind. Hearing the small bell ring, Mr. Porter looked over and smiled at Chase who walked in with a grin.

But the sight of Mayor Humdinger walking behind him shocked him, but also angered him a little bit since the last time they interacted was when he kicked the troublesome mayor out. Already seeing the frown on the restaurant owner's face, Chase sighed but smiled.

"Don't worry Mr. Porter, he's with me." Chase quickly spoke up and the owner looked at Chase with a surprised look and now some questions running in his mind, mainly the one being on why Chase was with Humdinger. But this also left him speechless.

"He came here to help me out with work." Chase simply explained, which once again, surprised Mr. Porter. He looked from Chase up to Humdinger who nervously smiled and waved his hand. He didn't trust Humdinger...but he trusted Chase.

But that still didn't stop him from worrying, and even frowning at Arnold.

"Okay? I think there's something you can do." Mr. Porter spoke as he looked over at the sink filled with dirty dishes.

Mayor Humdinger was now seen washing the dishes while Chase was helping Mr. Porter carry stuff over to the truck due to some other orders. Especially with New Years coming up, people are preparing for parties or hangouts, so a lot of people are busy, especially Mr. Porter for making food and delivering

Meanwhile, while carrying the boxes and bags over to the truck, Chase kept replaying the conversation he had with Rocky and Tundra.

Flash Back

"I came here to do my job, and Humdinger decided to come and help me out."

"Wait, you have a job? Since when?" Tundra asked.

"For a few days now, why?" The police pup asked back. Both Rocky and Tundra looked at each other with surprised looks, but also had worried looks on their faces and turned back to Chase.

"W-Wait, does this mean you're...you're leaving the team?"

"N-No." Chase answered, hiding his hesitance which earned sighs of relief from Rocky and Tundra. Awkward silence filled in between them before Chase spoke up.

Flash Back Ends

That's a question that Chase has been asking himself ever since he walked back here. But it's something that he never really thought about before.

Should he quit the Paw Patrol?

When thinking about it, there was no reason for him to be a part of the team anymore. Nobody actually likes him there. Why go back to the same ones who betrayed him and his trust in the first place? Most importantly, he never felt happy there. He always had to wear a smile on his face and pretend like everything was okay when it wasn't. Even after the fact that he changed, it didn't do much now thinking about it. But because of it, he found his family and people that really care about him and actually make him happy.

He found a place where he felt loved and cared for. Even after being adopted by Ryder, he still didn't feel that same connection that he had with Humdinger, Arya, Helga, the kittens and Maya.

Leaving the team didn't sound like a bad idea to him. But Ryder, Kushina, Edan and Tundra were the only ones that prevented him from leaving. So far, he only got along with those two. Tundra has been nothing but nice to him and comforted him as much as she could. Even with the conversation, he could see that Tundra hesitated to agree with the rest of the pups so that earned some of his trust. Ryder was the one who took him in and his life of torture and loneliness has ended...did it really end?

But then there was Kushina and Edan. Dogs that he looked up to them as parents. Sure, things are kind of rocky between them, but it was a small thing, right? But what bothered the shepherd was that even before he left and when he didn't, the two Dalmatians hadn't even lifted a paw to talk to the shepherd. Maybe I should've tried. Chase thought to himself. But then he thought about it a little more and he remembered sitting there, on his bean bag, staring at Kushina, Edan and Marshall.

The expressions on all of their faces represented a happy family. Chase thought about it more and didn't realize that it kind of hurt him when thinking about it. He thought Kushina and Edan were happy with him. Well, they were happy before they met me. Chase quickly thought to himself. But he thought they were even more happy and glad when Chase saw them as parental figures. But looking back at their expressions. Their smiles and laughs were caused by Marshall. Can Chase even bring that kind of happiness to them at all?

Thinking about it more, he began to lose more emotion to this thought as what he thought was true. Marshall is their REAL son and Kushina and Edan looked much happier without a troublesome German Shepherd with a little history problems in their way and looking up at them as parents.

So why did he still care?

Maybe it's best for everyone if he just quits the Paw Patrol for good. Maybe he should move on and live his life. Chase was deep in his thoughts that he completely stopped moving when he was walking towards Mr. Porter's truck with a box on his back.

"Uh, Chase?"

Mr. Porter's voice broke through the pups' thoughts and the police pup looked up at Porter who had a somewhat worried look.

"Is everything okay?" He asked and Chase realized that he hadn't been moving, he nervously laughed it off.

"Yeah, yeah. I was just thinking about a few things, that's all." Chase reassured and got back to work. But the door he was walking from led to the kitchen, revealing Humdinger still washing the dishes. He noticed the German Shepherd just standing there and noticing the frown on his face and after the small interaction between Porter and Chase, it left Humdinger frowning a little bit. After Mr. Porter walked inside, looking back at Chase, he turned back around to look at Arnold.

"Is everything okay with him?" He asked and Humdinger slightly sighed.

"I think he's okay, it's...it's nothing to worry about." Humdinger reassured, but then looked back at the German Shepherd. He still hadn't forgotten about the scars on his body. He decided to ask the shepherd later and went back to washing dishes.