PAW Patrol: Ruff Patches

Chapter one: Recovery

The sun peeked over the the horizon; just barely making its debut to the world, bringing back the daytime. The morning dew glistened off everything, shining like diamonds off of the whole world; creating an array of beauty everywhere one would look. The sun's rays reached out like fingers toward the iconic tower on a ridge lighting it, and the town below it, up completely. A brown lump on the ground snoozed on, despite the rousing light in the distance. Chase shifted his head away from the sunlight and gave a gentle sigh.

"Ah!" He stood up quickly; awake in seconds. Gazing around the yard, he found he was the only one there. Where is everyone? He thought. He squinted due to his eyes not yet being accustomed to the bright light. The campsite they'd set up outside was still there so no one had cleaned up yet; likely to let him sleep a little longer. Chase stretched and a crack from his shoulder sent needle-point shocks down his spine; followed by a tender ache. The patches of missing fur on the back of his neck and shoulder showed up more clearly in the morning light. Just another mark to remind him of all he'd been through. Though it'd been a week or two since then, he couldn't help but relive it in small bursts; which came in many forms, believe it or not. Chase shook off the shock and slowly headed toward the Lookout. The pups and Ryder looked up when he entered; having heard the door slid open.

"Morning Chase; sleep good?" Marshall greeted brightly.

"Yeah, I guess so." Chase replied with a small smile, shrugging one shoulder. "Where'd you guys go? Everyone was gone when I woke up."

"We thought we'd let you rest a bit more." Rocky returned simply. "We figured since you're still recovering, you could use the extra sleep." Figures. Chase thought, internally smiling.

"Who's idea was it?" He asked innocently; genuinely curious to know the answer.

"Marshall's.." Rocky said. "And Ryder's." By now Chase was roaring with laughter inside; totally called it!! His mind howled.

"Should've known." He giggled to his friends.

"So how do you feel today?" Marshall asked, stepping around behind him to inspect the German Shepard's wounds carefully.

"Ok I guess." Chase shrugged earnestly. "Still kinda hurts from time to time..-ahn!" He grunted and flinched as Marshall's paw found the tender spot still remaining on his shoulder.

"Easy, Chase." Marshall cautioned gently, glancing from the wound to him for a brief moment. Chase relaxed again, as Ryder came up to join them.

"Hey pups. How's it going over here?" He asked brightly, the boy having near completely recovered, from the heartache of his beloved German Shepard's seemingly forever-long absence.

"Pretty good, Ryder." Marshall reported happily. "Chase's wound seem to be healing well, but we may need to ice it or treat him for pain again. It's still kinda tender."

"Sure thing." Ryder smiled, nodding his head understandably. "Go ahead and do that." The pups smiled and Marshall bounded off with Chase slowly following behind.

XXXX

"Ahn!!" Chase grimaced and recoiled from the pressure put on his shoulder, as Marshall pulled the material tight.

"Hold still, Chase." Marshall told him through the material in his mouth. Laying it flat and smoothing it out, he finally finished.

"Thanks Marshall." Chase sighed, reaching a paw up to rub the newly wrapped shoulder.

"This athletic tape should help stabilize your shoulder, to ease the pain." The EMT pup stated tenderly. "And I think I'll give you a dissolvable pain killer to help too."

"Ok." Chase nodded, submitting to the pup's request. Marshall took out a small white tablet and dropped it into Chase's water bowl. And when it had fully dissolved, Chase began to drink.

"Ugh, yuck." Chase shuttered in disgust.

"I know, sorry about that." Marshall apologized unfortunately.

"It's ok." Chase shrugged loosely. "Hopefully soon, though, I won't have to do it anymore."

"Well you did shake your shoulder loose." Marshall reminded him. "The beating you took from Rex really messed you up. It's a miracle he didn't dislocate your shoulder."

"Yeah, I guess." Chase shrugged again..

XXXX

The two pups finally strode out of the Lookout, when they looked up and froze.

"Missed me?" The other German Shepard asked coolly.

"Chess!!" Chase cried, rushing forward toward his brother; to hug him tightly despite his tender shoulder.

"Haha, hey little brother." Chester chuckled, patting Chase's foreleg gently. Breaking apart, the younger German Shepard looked up beyond him. Frank, Billy, and Maggie Prescott stood there with Boomerang at their side.

"You're back!" Chase cried, leaving his brother to race over to them. Billy knelt down to accept the pup in his big arms, wrapping the pup in a tender embrace. "I'm so glad you're back." Chase said, bracing his paws up against the man's chest to look him in the eyes.

"Heh, yeah. Me too, Chase." The man said, ruffling the short hair on his head. Ryder and the PAW Patrol never tired of seeing the reunions between Chase and those he cared about(other than themselves of course); and this was no exception. Chase left Billy to place his paws up onto Boomerang to greet him with a lick on the cheek. Maggie keeled down to hug Chase close too.

"Great to be back to see you, Chase." Frank said, setting both hands on his cane. "But I think you'll like what we brought back with us." He turned to look back even further, and Chase peered around between them to see. Big brown eyes stared at him; almost shocked with what they were seeing. Chase's heart leaped at the familiarity of them, and the recognition they sparked.

"Chase?" The soft tender voice of the older German Shepard breathed, sounding just as shocked as they both felt.

"Mom!!!" The pup shifted to a new level of excitement, to a point beyond recognition for the pups and Ryder. Chase could hardly stand still, as he reached his mother with violent licks and tail wags. The dog shifted off we haunches to lick him gently too, her love for him gushing over the top with his. She took her pup in a large paw and hugged him close to her.

"I can't believe it!! I- You're here?!" Chase stammered, still completely flabbergasted by her presence.

"The Prescotts told me, we were moving." His mother told him. "But they never said that they'd found you here."

"We wanted to keep it a surprise for when you got here." Frank said.

"We knew you missed Chase just as much as we did." Billy spoke up.

"And we knew how much you worried about him with all he'd been through as a pup." Maggie finished.

"Well you were right." The dog told them thankfully. "What a wonderful surprise." She reached a paw over, to pull Chase in and press the top of her head to his left shoulder. Chase grunted and tensed softly, and that's when she noticed the wrapping around his right shoulder.

"Chase what happened to you?" She said, instantly becoming concerned, as she lifted his right paw up slightly to inspect the wound.

"Oh..uh..well it's nothing." Chase shrugged dodging the question smoothly. "Right now, anyway." His mother's brow furrowed suspiciously.

"Are you sure about that?" She questioned gently.

"He's just recovering from an injury ma'am." Marshall piped up, taking a step toward them.

"These are the pups that Chase lives with now." Frank explained. "Everyone; this is Mariana. Chase's mother, as you can tell."

"Pleased to meet you all." Mariana greeted, respectfully, bowing her head slightly.

"Pleased to meet you too! I'm Marshall." The Dalmatian smiled brightly. "And this is Rubble, Rocky, Skye, and Zuma."

"And this is Ryder." Chase said, stepping up next to the boy. "He's the one who took me in when I got lost." Mariana looked up and smiled.

"Well then I thank you, young man." She said. "Because I can clearly see that you have taken such good care of him for all these years."

"No problem." Ryder grinned. "I did what I could. But unfortunately I couldn't figure out where he came from, so I chose to keep him as my own. At least I'd know he was safe that way."

"And we're so glad you did." Frank told him, setting a firm hand on his shoulder. "Because you are everything we'd always wanted for Chase."

"I can't wait til you see the Lookout and get to know the pups!" Chase gushed excitedly. "You're gonna love them! Come on!" Chase sprinted off for the Lookout and the pups bounding after him. Ryder, and the others remaining, slowly following after them.

XXXX

"What a lovely place you have here." Mariana complimented, looking about the room on the lower level of the Lookout, thoughtfully admiring it all.

"Thank you." Ryder smiled. "Most of the technology in the Lookout is stuff I built. I've been improving it a lot over the years, and even coming up with more to make our rescues a little bit easier.

"Fascinating." The dog mused thoughtfully.

"And the Lookout isn't the only place where there's cool technology!" Chase grinned pleasurefully. "Come on!" He raced out of the Lookout and stopped in front of his pup-house at the bottom of the slide. "Wait here." He told her, then tore back into the Lookout. Making it to the top of the slide, he plunged down it; like he normally would, landing in his truck as it transformed under him. The engine roared to life, and he stood up to place his paws up onto the frame of the windshield.

"What do you think?" Chase asked proudly.

"It's... great." Mariana replied, forcing a smile. Chase beamed and hopped down to nuzzle up to her lovingly; then bounded off to put his truck away again.

"Everything ok, Ana." Billy whispered, kneeling down to her.

"I suppose..." the dog whispered back. "I guess I'm not exactly sure about the idea of Chase driving a motor-vehicle of his own; let alone one of that size."

"Aw don't worry." Billy told her. "He's been doing this for years. He's good at what he does. Trust me."

"Yeah... ok." She hesitantly dropped her gaze to the two German Shepard's running off with the other pups, to play for a bit.

Hi guys! Here's the new story I was talking about. Now a couple things to inform you:

For those of you who read my fic Mission PAW: Pups Save A Missing Pup, you know that I talked about a sequel being a huge possibility. And well... Ta Da!! Here it is!!

The title of the story, however, is a reference to my fic Ruff Times. But isn't connected to the this fic in any way other than the similarity of the titles. Therefore, this is not a sequel to Ruff Times by any means. I do urge you, who haven't read PSAMP or RT, to go over as read them!! But, obviously, that's up to you!

Anyway, enjoy this first chapter, and hopefully the story in its entirety as it porgresses(cause I kinda don't have a written out plan for it yet. ;D). Thx!!!