Behind The Mask

Setting Up

     After the little dispute between Rubble and Hubcap, Wild Cat met the newest member Liberty and everyone else, and so did the Ruff-Ruff Pack. Ryder told the pack that he would build them new vehicles with Robo-Dog for them to get home, to which they agreed.

Zuma and Rocky suddenly came up from downstairs and they dragged boxes over to the main room which grabbed the attention of everyone.

"What have you guys got there?" Dallas asked and Rocky looked up from the boxes to face his dad.

"Zuma and I brought up some Christmas decorations. It'd be fun to start setting them up around the Lookout." Rocky said and Zuma placed down one of the boxes.

"It's not too eawly or too late for Chwistmas spiwit!" He grinned which earned the smiles of everyone else.

"So, do you guys wanna set up Christmas decorations now?" Ryder asked and everyone cheered a little too loudly which surprised Ryder. The amount of guests that are staying over is pretty crazy, especially for a place like the Lookout.

Each one took out stockings, ornaments, Christmas lights, decorated wreaths, garlands and a bunch of other stuff and began decorating the inside of the Lookout.

The girls were hanging up stockings, while the boys were hanging up lights and the other humans were hanging up garlands and wreaths.

Meanwhile, Chase kept glancing over at Kushina and Edan who were helping Marshall with the lights.

Flash Back

"Mom..Dad...I-" Chase tried to explain, but was cut off.

"We think you should go with Ryder." Kushina said in a calm tone, but it didn't come, it was more like a stern, but also disappointed tone as well which broke the small pup.

"I...I..." Chase tried to speak again, but couldn't find the words to do so. But this time, Edan interrupted him.

"Chase...just go." He said in the same tone as Kushina's, which broke his heart even more.

Flash Back Ends

When he got back down, they didn't speak to each other since, and it broke Chase's heart. He knew he disappointed them, and began wondering if he even deserved them as parents. He never wanted to disappoint them in the first place, but now he has and now they weren't even talking to him or making the effort to.

He looked back at Kushina and Edan who were seen chuckling when Marshall got tangled up in the lights while trying to hang them up. The German Shepherd sadly smiled at them.

Flash Back

"My son was a mistake, he never should've happened. Even when things couldn't get harder, of course my wife had to give birth to a mistake and ruin our lives even more. He can't even work properly. Which is why tomorrow, I'll be making him sleep outside and that's where you'll come in and kill him." Chase's father explained.

Flash Back Ends

His sad smile then formed into a sad frown as he looked away again and at the lights he held with his paws.

"Hey, are you okay?" Chase then glanced over to see Dwayne, standing next to him holding the same lights. His expression had somewhat of a concerned look.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." He sighed and focused back on hanging the lights and both himself and Dwayne began raising the lights for them to be hung up. Once again, Chase glanced back at the two adult Dalmatians who were laughing as they were untangling Marshall from the lights.

They're probably happier without me- Before Chase could finish those thoughts, he was then interrupted with Rocky finally helping the two of them with the lights, making sure they hang along the ceiling.

"Alright, the last few lights have been hung up." Rocky grinned and Chase and Dwayne moved back, then the three saw Ryder walking up to them.

"Hey, Chase? Can you help me out really quick?" He asked and Chase nodded and watched as Ryder pulled out a little notepad paper.

"Can you deliver this order request to Mr. Porter? I know it's early, but with the amount of people and dogs we have, it might get busy for him." Ryder asked as he handed the paper to Chase.

"Sure." He simply agreed and took the paper in his paw and placed it inside his pocket. Ryder smiled as he watched Chase walk over to the doors. But what the shepherd didn't notice was that Kushina and Edan quickly took a glance at him as soon as the doors opened and closed.

Ryder looked over and saw Kushina's and Edan's sort of sad frowns on their faces. He walked over to them and kneeled down beside Kushina's side.

"Hey, is everything okay?" The worried leader asked.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine." Edan tried to reassure him with a smile, but it didn't work given the look that was given by the ten year old boy which caused both of them to sigh.

"It's just...we haven't spoken to each other ever since he came back down." Edan said with a little sad tone in his voice, and Kushina spoke up after him.

"It's kind of hard to say this, but we are upset with him, especially not telling us." Kushina admitted and Ryder looked back at her and sighed a little bit.

"Look, I know and trust me, I was a bit annoyed by this too. But don't forget, Chase is still young. He's still a seven year old pup. What I think he needs is just to talk it over with his parents." He said with a grin, making it clear that he was referring to Kushina and Edan. Both Dalmatians looked at him with a bit of a surprised look.

"But...what about his own parents? I know they work a lot, but can't he talk to them in some sort of way?" Edan asked as he felt like he wasn't the best or right dog to talk to, much less feel worthy of talking to Chase as his father.

Ryder sadly stared into the ground as he knew too well. Chase...how long do you plan on keeping it in? Ryder wondered as he began getting worried. The leader badly wanted to tell them everything, but on his behalf with respect to the second-in-command, he couldn't.

"I'm too sure. But, in any case. I've seen they way you two care so much about him, just like Marshall. Trust me, more than anybody, I think it's important that you two talk to Chase when he gets back. It's something that he needs most...more than you'll ever imagine." Ryder whispered out the last part, making sure it was low enough for them not to hear.

Kushina and Edan looked at each other and then warmly smiled and nodded. Ryder was right, Chase was...IS their son, and they're not going to give up on him ever.

So while the two waited for the shepherd to return, they went back to setting up the decorations.