Behind The Mask

Talk With Helga

     After the clothing store, Helga bought Chase a biscuit treat and both of them were sitting on a bench, facing the beach.

"So...mind explaining now what I did for your son?" Chase asked, after swallowing his last bite of the biscuit.

"Well, Humdinger told me that you were the one to buy those apples yesterday." Helga pointed out and Chase blushed lightly.

"O-Oh, that? It wasn't really that big of a deal." Chase embarrassingly laughed while putting his front leg at the back of his head.

"Trust me, it is. And you and him became friends? From what he told me?" She then pointed out and Chase fell silent.

"W-Well, yeah." Chase confirmed and Helga smiled.

"I'm surprised that you and him made amends after everything that happened in the city." Helga said with a bit of a surprised tone.

"Well, he I figured that he might need a friend to be there for him." Chase said in somewhat of a sad tone which didn't go unnoticed by Helga.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"His father wasn't there for him, right? And he didn't have any friends so I figured I should try and be there for him." Chase replied and Helga looked at Chase with a bit of surprised look on her face. Chase noticed this and got nervous.

"Um, did I say something wrong?" He asked.

"No, I'm just surprised." She said honestly and Chase got confused.

"Huh? About what?" Chase asked.

"My son doesn't usually like to talk about this kind of stuff. He never spoke about it to anyone before, not even his kittens. So I'm surprised he opened up to you. Especially to a dog of the Paw Patrol." Helga pointed out. Chase was also a bit surprised himself, he never really knew Humdinger didn't talk to anyone else about it. But who did he have? Chase felt a little sad to realize this too.

"You know, I notice Humdinger said that too, about him opening up to a dog. I know he's a cat person, but I don't get why he hates dogs so much." Chase mentioned and Helga winced at that and looked at the ground sadly and Chase noticed.

"O-Oh. S-Sorry if I said something wrong." Chase apologized but Helga sighed.

"No, it's not that. It wasn't always like that." Helga began and Chase continued to pay attention.

"My son was actually a really huge dog person when he was a kid."

Chase's eyes widened to hearing that Mayor Humdinger was actually a dog person, but he kept on listening. 

"When we were all together, we had a German Shepherd as a pet. His name was Kamato. He and my son were the best of friends. Kamato was actually a really strong and smart dog too. In the police department, he was actually considered to be the strongest and smartest out of all dogs. My son and Kamato did everything together. Play, sleep, bathe. They had a bond like no other." Helga smiled as she was having memories and Chase smiled at that but then noticed her smile drop.

"But...one day, Kamato was walking my son home from school when a van pulled up and took my son."

Chase slightly gasped. He didn't know that Mayor Humdinger went through that as a young kid.

"Kamato chased down the van with all of his power and did everything he could to save and protect my son. I haven't mentioned this yet, but at that time, Kamato was married to another German Shepherd. Her name was Kallie. She is a wonderful dog too, she was one of the wild dogs though, so we decided to take her in. One day, Kallie was missing and Kamato found her in the warehouse where my son was taken too."

Chase had his mouth open, he didn't know such things happened, but now, he was interested in what happened next.

"Kamato fought off those kid-napper, who also had other dogs working with them. Kamato fought them off as best as he could, but there was another thing. Kallie was in labor."

Chase gasped as he heard that. A female German Shepherd was about to give birth while she was being protected by her husband from kid-nappers who tried to take away his best friend.

"Sounds crazy." Is all Chase could say.

"It only got worse when one of them called more of those horrible people over. Before they arrived, Kallie gave birth to her and Kamato's son, so Kamato did everything in his power to protect his son while he ordered my son to run."

"What happened after that?" Chase asked and Helga sighed once again.

"My son hid behind a bush while the other people showed up, after about a few minutes, the entire building exploded. Burning it whole, taking down all of the people inside..."

"Including Kamato and Kallie."

Chase sadly glanced at the ground. Silence filled the two.

"There was no trace of their son afterwards. The detectives went into this as an unsolved case and that their son has died along with their parents." Helga finished the story.

"My son was never the same after that. After learning that his best friend has died to those people and dogs, he decided that he would be better off alone without having dogs as friends. Ever since then, he's always become a cat person." Helga finished off and Chase stared back at the beach.

"I didn't know he went through that." Chase whispered to himself, but Helga heard him and realized what she did.

"Huh, I think I've said too much." Helga sighed and Chase looked at her as she stood up.

"I don't know why he decided to tell you this, I'm even surprised I told you what happened in his past." Helga said to him as she looked closer at the police German Shepherd and smiled warmly at him as she placed her hand on his head, softly rubbing it.

"Maybe it's because you remind me of him." Helga said, referring to Kamato. Chase looked at her with a bit of shock, but blushed at the sort-of compliment.

"Thank you, again." Chase said.

"No. Thank you. I have to admit, Chase. You're special." Helga said and Chase looked up at Helga with a surprised look. Nobody has ever told the German Shepherd that before, which is why it shocked him the most.

"Oh! Hold on a minute." She said suddenly and reached into her pocket and pulled something out in her hand and lowered to to show Chase.

It was a necklace made out of rope and containing a black pewter arrowhead pendant with some sort of logo on it which represents a hexagonal shape.

"Kamato always wore this necklace. From what I remember, he told me that it was passed down from his family generations. It's been through so much. And I wanna give it to you."

Chase gasped when he heard that. Something so valuable was now being given to him.

"W-W-Wait, wh-what? A-Are you sure? That must mean a lot to you and Humdinger!" Chase almost yelled and softly placed the necklace onto his paw.

"I'm sure. I'm certain that If we can trust anyone with this, it'd be you." She said and got up once again.

"I don't know what it is about you that made me or Humdinger talk about this, but I have a feeling that there's a reason why we told you. Meh, I may be over thinking it. But it doesn't matter. I think, that right now, my son needs a friend like you to be there for him when times are tough. That's my thought though." Helga said with a grin.

"Anyways, I have to go back now. Hope to see you again." She walked off, waving Chase goodbye. Chase smiled and watched Helga walk off until he couldn't see her anymore. Chase smiled as he looked back up at the Lookout as he began walking towards it. He raised his paw as he looked at the necklace that was given to him.

"I'm special, huh?"