Behind The Mask

Riddle

     Three days have passed, and the pain is slowly dunning down. But Chase still had to lay down as he still couldn't walk. This was a good sign for the pups, happy that Chase was getting better.

A few more coughs were heard from the German Shepherd. Everyone was down in the usual room, just hanging out. Chase was lying on his back, with only his head sticking out of his blanket, and rested his head upon the bean bag.

Chase looked over to see Rocky sitting beside him, reading.

Flash Back

"Why do you even hang out with him that much?" Rocky asked and Chase listened closely as he now wanted to hear Marshall's answer.

"I know this is out of place, but do you guys also consider that he always wears that blue hoodie, all the time?" Rocky asked.

"Don't know dude. Sometimes, I wish that we didn't have him as the leader or police pup on the team. I know that's a bit hawsh, but c'mon, his authowity is really annoying. I wish we didn't have someone like that on our team." Zuma said.

Silence

"Agreed" The rest of the pups said.

Flash Back Ends

Chase sighed at the memory once again, until he looked over to what Rocky was reading and he noticed the cover consisted of planets in front of a black background, filled with white dots.

Everyone in the Paw Patrol always saw Rocky as the smartest one in the group, as he did have great plans on certain missions that went successfully. Rocky did like to read a lot, but sadly for him, nobody seemed interested in the book as the mixed breed was.

Well...until now.

"Yo, whatcha' readin'?" Chase asked in a somewhat rough voice, causing Rocky to look at him with a somewhat surprised voice. This got the attention of the other pups, which didn't try to show much reaction, but nonetheless were shocked. Is Chase really interested in Rocky's books?

Surprised that the German Shepherd was now talking to him, Rocky decided to answer him.

"Uh, just reading a book on outer space, along with it's planets." Rocky said with some stars in his eyes as he always loved reading about stuff like the outside world. Chase coughed a couple more times before he responded back.

"Never took you for a science geek." Chase commented, making Rocky deadpan at him.

"Hey, it's really interesting, y'know. I mean, don't you wonder about outer space?" Rocky asked while looking at Chase who looked off to the side, thinking about that question.

"Nope."

The pup in green deadpanned once again at the police pup's answer.

"So what do you find interesting?" Rocky then asked, and Chase thought about it for a little bit. It was a good question, but after a little thinking, the sick Shepherd couldn't come up with anything. But then, something came to mind.

"I guess people and animals." Chase answered, making Rocky confused, along with the other pups, but they pretended like they were minding their own business.

"I mean, it is important to learn what makes both of them unique. But why those two?" Rocky asked, now wanting to learn more about Chase's interest in those living beings.

"Dunno." Chase shrugged, confusing the mixed breed even more, and then he watched the German Shepherd slouch back.

"I guess, a part of it is what they think." Chase tried to word it.

"You mean their mental health?" Rocky worded better and Chase nodded. Rocky spent the next couple seconds, thinking of how to respond.

"Well, um, I don't really know what to say to that," Rocky nervously chuckled, "But why choose mental health though?" He asked.

Chase squinted his eyes a little bit at that question.

Flash Back

"Unchain him." She said sternly and two other people walked from behind her and slowly removed the chains from Chase's legs, but he was still on the ground and seeing this, Lady formed a glare on her face and walked up to the poor puppy.

"Get up." She said,

A few seconds have passed and Chase only stared up to her and whispered loudly:

"Yes, Mom." He said he tried to get up on his four feet, but only stumbled on them and fell back down, making the blood splash a little bit onto Lady's shoes.

"P-P-P-Please...can-can we please do it t-tomorrow?" Chase stuttered, his body was affecting his speech even more. But once again, Lady Keres gave him an unsatisfied look.

"Get. Up." She said, not bothering to answer the poor pups question.

"Lady."

Felicia then looked at one of the guards who spoke her name.

"I don't mean to pry on your business. But look at him. He's barely able to move at all and he can barely speak. Don't you think that we should let him rest today?" The guard suggested.

"Oh, he will move. He just needs the right motivation." She said with a wide grin and slowly walked over to the table and picked up the scutica which was leaking fresh blood. And immediately, Chase got afraid and tried his best to talk.

"P-P-Please...no...no more." Chase begged softly, his voice wasn't strong enough to speak loudly.

"Then show me that you can stand up." She demanded. Chase then tried his best to stand, each time he would, sharp pain would rip through his entire body, and it would cause Chase to lose his balance, and every time he would catch himself, he would just feel more pain.

The Lady didn't show any reaction at all, but just stared at Chase with no emotions on her face.

"It's clear to me that you need an awakening reminder." She said and Chase watched her form a wide grin on her face, as if she seemed excited and slowly raised her arm with the scutica.

"N-No...please." Chase begged once again, as he tried to get up, but his body just wouldn't let him.

"All I wanna hear is your screams."

Flash Back Ends

"Don't really know. Sometimes I wonder what people and animals think from time to time." Chase sighed, making Rocky confused again, until Chase faced him this time.

"Hey Rocky?" He asked, getting the recycling pups attention, "Do you wonder what I think about?" Chase asked, adding more confusion to the table.

"U-Uh..." Rocky stuttered, as he obviously didn't know the answer to that question either, as it was a difficult question. Seeing Rocky's confused face, Chase had an idea as he came up with something.

"Hey, can you solve this riddle for me?" Chase asked, and once again, catching Rocky by surprise, but stood silent as he awaited for the sentence to come.

"Hell. Angry. Punishment. Pain. Yearning. Use characters. Sometimes we pretend, just to blend." Chase said, now leaving a confused Rocky. Chase only smiled at the muddled Mixed Breed.

"Lemme know when you've figured it out." Chase happily said and turned away.

And Rocky was just left confused.