Behind The Mask

Finding A Job

     After looking around on the internet, he made sure to turn off the TV, and Chase put on his usual hoodie that was washed yesterday and closed the door normally. He walked out to the kitchen to see Helga, now looking at Chase.

"Good morning, Chase." Helga said with a cheerful smile and Chase warmly smiled back.

"Morning." He greeted back and looked off to the side of the cabinets of the kitchen. But when he looked over, there were storage boxes and just barely, through the clear glass of the boxes. Chase could see the letters Helga and Humdinger were reading this morning.

The German Shepherd slightly frowned as Helga and Humdinger really were trying to keep that a secret from him and the kittens.

"Do you want me to prepare some breakfast for you?" Helga suggested and Chase lightly smiled up at her.

"No thank you, I'm not really hungry. I'm just gonna go out to Adventure Bay for a bit." Chase said which confused the mother of the mayor of Foggy Bottom a little bit.

"I thought you said you wanted to get away from that place for a little bit." Helga mentioned and the pup had to admit, she got him there. He did say that to Ryder and it would be strange if he just suddenly wanted to go back.

"I...I wanted to go visit Maya for a little bit." Chase quickly made an excuse, feeling bad for using his little sister as an excuse to go find a job...wait, is it that bad? But still, using the excuse to see someone to help others, even if it's for the right thing, still didn't sit right with the police pup because Maya also needed the help. That's when Chase was reminded that he needed to help Maya and her older sister as well. Knowing this motivated him even more to get a job.

"Oh, I see. Well, have fun, and tell her I said hello." Helga agreed and Chase grinned back.

"I will." And the brown pup headed up the hallway to the main door before he was stopped by Helga.

"And be careful." She said in a slight worried tone, but Chase only glanced back at her and smiled.

"I will." And left.

The Lookout

This day, everyone was outside, decorating a large Christmas tree outside the Lookout as it's a traditional activity to do for the holidays. Skye was using her wings from her pup-pack to fly around and attach most of the lights while everyone else was putting up ornaments and other straps and decorations around the tree.

But this whole time, everyone was uneasy. Even hanging up every single ornament on the tree, they still felt something was missing...or someone.

Ever since Chase hasn't returned, things have been awkward in the Lookout. Even everything they did felt awkward. The fact was, they haven't spent a day without even one of the pups being there. But now, they are and they hated every second of it.

But Skye was the one who was having the most thoughts about this whole situation as she was partly the reason why Chase isn't here right now. When she hung the star up on the tree, she looked back down and frowned as she could see the unmotivated and unemotional looks on everyone's faces. Of course, they all tried to be happy to each other, but it's obvious it was forced.

Skye looked off into the view of Adventure Bay and slightly frowned. Where are you? She asked in her mind.

But one thing that really troubled everyone was that he was spending the time at Foggy Bottom with Humdinger. Literally, Chase was with their worst rival or enemy. They were confused, shocked and somewhat angry that out of all the places Chase could've chosen to go, he went to the Humdingers.

"I just don't get it." Liberty whispered which got the attention of Tuck and Everest who were hanging up ornaments.

"What is it?" Tuck asked

"After everything that happened in Adventure Bay, out of all of us, Chase should hate Humdinger the most. So why would he be there right now and not with us?" Liberty quietly questioned.

"I...I don't know," Everest sighed and looked back at the ornaments, "Chase has been...unpredictable these past few weeks, but this one takes the cake. I don't know what he could be thinking." Everest admitted.

Ella and Sweetie heard the conversation, but they frowned at each other as that didn't sound anything like the Chase they knew before. Sweetie was the most conflicted. Sure they were enemies, but even as an enemy of the police pup, she could never imagine Chase doing something like this. It was so not like him and it got to a point where even the royal pup became slightly worried.

Tundra on the other hand snuck a few frowning glances at Skye. How long do you plan on keeping this up? The Husky wondered. Tundra knew this act won't go out for long and Skye would have to admit to it, but waiting longer would only make things work. But that didn't matter as much as wondering how Chase is doing right now.

Ever since she overheard the words that Skye said to him, Tundra has been worrying about the shepherd's mental health more and more.

With Chase

Chase was walking through the sidewalks of Adventure Bay, keeping his hood up whilst looking for a job so he can help not only the Humdingers, but Maya also. But in almost every store he checked, nobody was hiring which made the shepherd start losing hope.

But he then came across Porters Café and even though it didn't have a hiring sign, he still walked in. But when he walked in, he was surprised. Some of the tables were filled up with huge amounts of food, but the most action he saw was Mr. Porter running around, looking tired and stressed out.

"Hey, Mr. Porter." Chase greeted in a slightly shocked tone and the adult noticed Chase and waved his hand towards him.

"Hey, Chase. What brings you here?" He asked as he was re-looking at the list that Chase gave him a while ago.

"I...was just walkin' around and decided to visit. It looks like you're really busy." Chase chuckled a little bit along with Mr. Porter.

"Yeah, it's a hassle, trust me." He said and Chase frowned a little bit as he felt like the guy needed lots of help. He looked around to still see food baking and some were unpacked...a lot of it was unpacked.

"Do you...need some help?" He asked as he turned his eyes from the food up to Mr. Porter, now looking at Chase with a relieved smile, as if he was happy that someone offered to help.

"Yeah...wait, I have an idea," Mr. Porter agreed, but then got excited, "I have a bunch of orders in for this and the next week. You can come by and help me out with lots of this stuff, I'll even pay you." Mr. Porter explained, not caring that he has to pay, he just wanted someone to help him.

The fact that Mr. Porter would pay him for the work made Chase smile a little bit and that was all he needed to hear.

"Alright, show me what to do." Chase grinned and Mr. Porter jumped up in excitement and gestured Chase to follow.

In Chase's mind, no matter how hard the job will be, his family is way more important than they pain he has gone through. In his mind, family comes first before himself, he didn't care if he had to stay up late and use up most of his energy. In his mind, family is worth that pain.