PAW Patrol: Ruff times

Chapter one: Rocky Landing

"Almost there Skye!!" Ryder called up from the harness. The helicopter lowered a little more, setting his feet on the ledge next to the Alex and Mr. Porter. "Don't worry you guys, we're going to get you out of here. Marshall you ready?" He pulled away the tree trunk that had just barely missed them.

"You bet Ryder!" The Dalmation poked his head from below the ledge. "Come on Alex, were gonna use my ladder to get you down." He started back down, as Alex joined him in the ladder.

"And the harness to get you down, Mr. Porter." Called Skye.

"Ok, but what about Ryder?" Mr. Porter wondered as his feet left the ground.

"Don't worry," Skye reassured him setting him gently next to Marshall's truck. "I'm going back for him now." Ryder prepared to get the harness when it came to him, but a cracking noise made him look down. Cracks stretched around the small ledge, even from where Marshall was standing on the ground. He gasped.

"Hurry Skye!!" He barked hurriedly. The ledge cracked more, Marshall's breath caught in his throat and his heart began to race. He violently whipped around and smashed the 'ladder up' button on his dash board, immediately beginning to climb the moving ladder.

"Almost... there." The pup strained, sweat beginning to moisten his brow. The ledge cracked once more, then crumbled. "NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Marshall screamed extending a paw, as Ryder fell into a cloud of dust. His blue eyes glazing over as the ledge became rocks and dust. Skye gasped and held her breath, quickly turning her copter to land. As the cloud arose, Marshall slumped down over his ladder's top rung; letting his, once, extended paw and head dangle lifelessly from his body. Almost automatically the ladder lowered, and he jumped down; just as Skye blazed by him. Ryder lay still on his back amongst the rubble, as the dust cleared.

"Ryder? Ryder?" The Cockapoo poked him gently a couple times. The boy stirred and open his eyes, then slowly rolled up to a sitting position. The dazed leader shook the dizziness from his head and coughed.

"I'm ok pups." He said hoarsely. He coughed again, then looked down.

"Oh my gosh, Ryder, are you alright?" Mr. Porter asked, coming to help him up. He tried to lift him up from behind, but a searing pain in the boy's leg made him grimace. Mr. Porter set him down immediately, and the two pups closed in. The debris had completely trapped his right leg.

"Ryder, are you ok?" Skye asked, both she and Marshall looking close to tears.

"Uh, yeah, I'm ok pups." Ryder shrugged. "But I could use some help." Marshall and Skye quickly scampered to the pile of rocks and rolled away one after the other, until the rest fell away exposing the leg. Mr. Porter took Ryder's left arm, then his right and helped him up again. Attempting to stand on it, he grunted and withdrew the weight on it.

"Careful Ryder," Mr. Porter warned.

"Ryder!!" Alex cried hurrying over to him. "Are you ok?!" His blue eyes flashing with worry.

"I think so, Alex." Ryder smiled calmly, limping toward his ATV; still assisted by Mr. Porter. "Marshall call Chase, tell him to bring the PAW Patroller and your EMT gear."

"You got it Ryder!" The Dalmatian hopped up into his truck and barked into his Pup-tag.

"Chase, we need the PAW Patroller!!" Chase's sheriff-star Pup-tag flashed as Marshall's voice cracked through it.

"Uh... ok why?" The German Shepard's innocent confusion broke Marshall's heart.

"It's Ryder, he's..." the pup trailed off. Chase's expression changed from one of confusion, to that of horror upon hearing this. His stomach suddenly dropped and his heart pounded...

"Ryder are you ok!!!" Chase cried bursting out of the PAW Patroller as soon as the door opened. If the other pups had followed, which they did, he wouldn't have known. He was numb to anything, but the thought of Ryder; and the story Marshall had told him of what had happened. Ryder was sitting sideways on his ATV, he turned toward them as they approached. He could see the panic in his pup's eyes.

"Chase calm down!" He told him, as the German Shepard jumped up into the seat next to him and buried his face in his chest. "I'm ok." He stroked the pup's head, then turned to Marshall. "Marshall, grab you EMT gear.-"

"Don't have to ask me twice!!!" The Dalmatian called over his shoulder. Chase released Ryder, and sat down; brushing away a tear that everyone was surprised to see.

"Woah, we've almost never seen Chase cry before." Zuma whispered to Rocky.

"I know, but could you blame him. We all love Ryder. And it was scary to know that he might be hurt." The mixed breed slumped down a little, wanting to cry himself. Marshall flew by the circle of worried pups. Mr. Porter standing off to the side with his hands on Alex's shoulders, both highly concerned for the leader of the PAW Patrol.

"Arf, arf!! X-ray!!" Marshall barked. He ran the screen across Ryder's right leg, and his heart sank. "It's just as I thought." He said finally, as the screen folded away. He sat down sadly, slowly meeting Ryder's gaze. "It looks like you've broken your tibia in two places, Ryder." Gasped rippled from the group of pups. Chase's shock showed by his flattened ears and glazed brown eyes.

"Oh no!" Rubble cried. He paused. "What's a tibia?" He wondered finally.

"It's one of the longest bones in Ryder's leg." Marshall explained, he pointed to Ryder's lower leg; to reinforce his reply. "The good news is it's a clean break, so we won't need to do anything to fix it. We'll just cast it with plaster, and keep him off of it for six to eight weeks."

"Weeks? But what about our missions?" Skye protested. "How are we going to protect Adventure Bay?"

"The way we always do." Ryder answered in his normally calm way. "By working as a team. Let's get back to the Lookout, so we can figure this out... together."

Marshall temporarily wrapped Ryder's leg, while Rocky used his forklift to place Ryder's ATV into the PAW Patroller. Using the crutch from Marshall's truck and Mr. Porter's support, Ryder made his way into the PAW Patroller. Chase stuck close by, hopping up onto the seat next to Ryder; unwillingly to sit where he usually did. Marshall couldn't take his eyes off of him, his gut twisted in his abdomen. Tears threatened to escape his eyes, but he bit his lip and looked away.

"Take us home Robo-dog." Ryder commanded, as everyone was seated. All the pups' vehicles had been packed up in the PAW Patroller, so they started back to Adventure Bay. "We can drop you off at the restaurant if you want, Mr. Porter." Ryder said, as they entered town on Main Street.

"Uh, thank you Ryder but, uh, we were actually wondering if we could stick around for a little while longer. If that's ok." Mr. Porter answered slowly.

"Sure." Ryder smiled nodding, he knew that they wanted to be sure everything was alright. When the PAW Patroller pulled up to the Lookout, they all took Ryder inside and set him down on one of the beanbags in the main living area.

"Ok, pups." Marshall spoke up, trying to hide the flatness in his tone. "Let's prepare the plaster for the cast. And get the special paper for it too, I have some in my truck." As the pups scattered, Zuma pushed up a cushioned stool.

"Here you go Ryder. So you can put your leg up." The Chocolate Lab attempted a smile.

"Thanks Zuma." Ryder grinned setting his wounded leg gingerly up onto the stool. Zuma was amazed how calm Ryder was, given the situation, but forced a bigger smile. Then turned and ran off to find the other pups. Chase simply stood there, just to the left of thte door, facing the inside looking at Ryder. Alex was sitting there talking to him, while Mr. Porter helped the other pups collect the items necessary for the cast. But Chase just stood there... like he was frozen in time while everything else went on around him. All he could look at was Ryder and imagine what it had looked like; to see him fall. He tried to ignore them, but these thoughts were slowly eating away at him. He tried to shake it off, but the feeling had almost fully consumed him. To the point that he was essentially trapped in an infinite nightmare, his worst nightmare come true right in front of him. His mind was spinning; he wanted to help, but didn't want to leave Ryder. He wanted to keep Ryder company, but feared he would crumble to bits in front of everyone. They'd already seen him shed a tear once, he hadn't really wanted them to see him completely fall apart; one tear was more than enough for him. But still he stood there; still frozen, still not sure what to do.

"Chase come on, don't you wanna help?" Zuma called to him. All Chase heard was a muffled, distant echo, more followed all sounding like anything other than words. Just the same, he hollowly walked forward toward them sitting down amongst his fellow pups.

"I think it's ready." Mr. Porter told them stirring the white, liquidy substance.

"You wanna help, Alex?" Skye asked, steadily wagging her tail.

"Sure!" Alex cried happily. "I mean, if you don't mind." He shot an unsure glance at Ryder.

"Of course you can, Alex." Ryder beamed. Alex smiled and joined the pups, Marshall supervised and helped instruct the pups on what to do. All the pups were elbow deep in this project... except one. And Ryder noticed this immediately, but knew it was a conversation to have with just the two of them alone... later.

"You ok Chase?" He asked, wondering if he'd even hear him.

"Uh..huh? Uh, yeah... I'm fine." Chase stuttered, shaking himself out of the trance he felt like he was still trapped in.

"Ok... but, you know, I'm here if you need to talk." Ryder reminded him. Chase straightened up at this, he knew that Ryder was on to him, and decided to act like he wasn't; to avoid talking about it.

"There, all done." Marshall said, smoothing down one last piece.

"You know, it was kinda fun doing this." Zuma commented.

"Yeah, it was almost like doing papier-mâché!" Rocky squeaked. Ryder laughed and the others joined him. Chase laid down and set his chin on to his paws, then slowly crept out of the room and out the door. Retreating into the darkening evening, he dove into his house; just as the tears flooded down his face. He was glad he got out of there when he did. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold it together, now he just prayed that no one saw him or would notice he was gone for a while. The pain he felt was agonizing, and the hurt that gripped him was like a vest that was too small for him. His chest felt compressed, like nothing could escape it. But, yet, somehow intense, painful sobs managed to force their way out of him. He muffled his own cries with both paws over his face, as he huddled deep in the back corners of his pup house.

Phew!! Done! This story conecpt was suggested to me a few weeks ago or so and I finally decided to start it! So thank you, Amilia13!! I was going to start it sooner, but I had other stories I wanted to tie up first. I didn't get all of them, but I chose to start it anyway. Hope you guys enjoy! Can't wait to hear your thoughts about it!! Thx!!!