CH 2: Shoreline
Ryder was the first to pull into the wooden pier, The rest of the pups stopped just short behind him. Each pup stepped out of their vehicles to inspect the surrounding beach, the three gasped in shock at what they saw. Random bits of paper, empty food cans, Boxes of used paper towels and wrappers, what looked to be a sack of purple clothes and hats which had torn along the surf. Spilling the contents into the water, washing up on the shore. Rocky leaned into the water line, using one of his claw arms to lift what appeared to be an old boot from the water. A low wine came from his snout, he could repurpose most of what was here, but the sheer amount of stuff just so blatantly left out to pollute the sea hurt the recycle pup's heart. Zuma stood behind his friend; the water pup approached him.
``Whoa dude...this is...''
``Horrible''
Rocky finished his sentence. Zuma could see how sad this made him. He couldn't stand seeing Rocky being so down. He took a few steps next to him, half tempted to lean in close to nuzzle him before a familiar police pup started sniffing along the shore in front of them.
Chase was already on the case to try and identify the culprit. Sniffing at any piece of rubbish he could. Hoping to get any sort of familiar scent to follow. He couldn't pick up much between the smells of the sea, sand and very stinky trash thrown about. A stray banana peel had washed in with a wave and landed directly onto his nose.
``Yuck!''
Rocky and Zuma giggled at the police pup as he shook the peel off his snout.
``I'm not picking up anything Ryder, No footprints or usual smells either. Besides the trash that is''
Ryder walked along the shore with the pups, rubbing his chin and pondering their next course of action.
``Just as I thought, all this stuff is being washed in by the sea. Whoever is doing this, is doing it in a certain spot in the bay.''
``That's going to be a lot of water to comb through'' Rocky said.
``Ryder, my vehicle can't go in the water though'' Chase added.
``Good point, which is why I'm going to need you to ride with me so we can look through the sea together, Zuma will follow suite to scan above and below the surf.''
``Let's do it dude!''
``Yeah Awooo!'' Rocky replied, he and Zuma started to make their way back to their vehicles.
``Hold on there Rocky.''
The mixed breed stopped in his tracks. Turning his head towards Ryder.
``Rocky, I know I said we needed your tugboat but there is way too much trash built up on the shore to just leave it there, I need to pick up what you can with your truck.''
Rocky's ears lowered, admittedly he was little let down that he could not follow Zuma and the others, but he understood that there was important work to be done on the beach.
``Yes, Sir Ryder''
Zuma turned to the mixed breed pup.
``Wocky, that's a lot of trash to get, you suwre you don't need some help with that?''
Zuma knew he had a job to do, but he felt bad having Rocky deal with all this on his own. The Recycle pup looked back his friend. His heart suddenly fluttered, feeling a little better from witnessing the sad scene on the shore. Zuma always had a knack of making him feel good.
``It's ok Zuma, I can always ask the other pups at the lookout to come help. Plus, I want you to find whoever is responsible for this as soon as possible''
``Oh, we will, you can always follow us afterwards when youwr...You're done.''
Rocky tilted his head at Zuma, noticing the slight change in pronunciation. Before he could dwell further on it, Zuma had leaned in and pressed his wet nose very quick against Rocky's. This took the pup off guard and his face blushed. Zuma was quick to turn around and head along back to his hovercraft. Ryder and Chase leaped on the ATV and before he knew it, both vehicles had propelled onto the water. Rocky watched as they skidded along the surface of the ocean. There was a huge chance that being out there with them would have meant the pup would get soaked, but Rocky would have been fine with that if he could spend more time with Zuma. He'd still have his opportunity later. As they left his field of view, Rocky pressed on his pup tag and requested back up from the rest of the team.
``You're...you'wre...you're...''
The chocolate lab mouthed the word repeatedly. He really didn't like having mispronounced something, especially in front of Rocky. Though he hoped he didn't notice it too much with the impromptu nuzzle he gave him. Zuma raised his paw and rubbed the end of his nose. The chocolate lab was aware of what he did. It wasn't something he did often with his friends but Rocky looked so sad earlier, he thought the reassurance would help. Plus, it just felt right, nuzzling Rocky.
``Yeah, it felt right'' he thought.
A soft blush crossed on the labs face as he sped along the water with Ryder and Chase. Zuma had activated his Radar to detect any thing abnormal on the ocean Floor, Chase had sent out his drone from the ATV to get aerial point of view as well. With their combined efforts, they were sure something would turn up eventually. It wasn't long before the team spotted some more scattered boxes bobbing up along the water. Ryder stopped his ATV, Zuma stopped alongside them.
``Chase, see if you can get a scent on one of those boxes.''
``Roger Ryder! Ruff!''
Chase had leaned in to try and pick up some sort of scent to no avail. The floating box was covered with all sorts of sea grass and water, throwing him off.
Zuma's hovercraft bobbed with the waves as he waited, though his thoughts drifted back towards Rocky.
``I was hoping to spend some more time with him, but he'll catch up later. I mean, if he wants to. The ocean is not really his favorite place. Too wet!''
He giggled to himself.
``But he'll need to grab this random Trash out here, but maybe that will be the only reason why he'd come out here...Not really a good time to hang out during a mission.''
A somber thought crept into his mind.
``Though we haven't really hung out too much lately, maybe he's just working on something. Taking up his time...''
He stared down at the Radar, the green circled and white lined screen was bright, but he was not really looking at it. More like looking past it, his mind dwelling on something far more concerning. His front paws fiddled on the steering wheel.
``Or...Maybe we aren't as close anymore? Did something change...''
``Beep...bop...''
``Huh?''
``Beep...Bop...''
Zuma looked ideally at his radar. A within the large green circle, the pup could see a very faint object towards the right-hand side of the screen. It was big! A whale maybe? Nah, they weren't likely to show up in the bay during this season. Zuma smelled something fishy going on.
``Wyder! I got something!'' He barked; he'd worry about correcting his mispronunciation later.
``Where at?'' Chase called out.
``Heading south it looks like!''
Ryder looked down at his own Radar, seeing the strange shape as well.
``Let's check it out pups!''
Chase sat back into the ATV, Ryder took point in front of Zuma and the team jetted off in the direction of the sonar. Hopefully they could put this thing to bed soon, Zuma wondered exactly what they were about to deal with, but other part of his mind dwelled back on his pal. He wondered if he would make his way out here soon.
``Yuck! Is that a used coffee filter?''
``Yup yup, you're not supposed to put coffee grounds down your garbage disposal, but they shouldn't be in the ocean either.''
Rocky packed the used filter into a trash bag with Skye. The rest of the team were quick to arrive on the beach. Marshall picked up what he could into several stacks along the sand while Rubble used his bulldozer to lift the stacks up and off the beach. To their surprise and appreciation, Mayor Goodway and a few of the citizens of Adventure Bay had gather around to assist the Paw patrol in their cleanup effort. Rocky was very happy about that, this meant he could soon join up with Zuma and the rest shortly. He turned his attention towards the open water, wondering if they were doing ok out there. He hoped that whatever had caused this mess wouldn't be a big problem for them, especially for the water pup.
``Something on your mind?''
Rocky jumped back to reality.
``Oh uhhh nothing...Just wondering if...''
``If Zuma is ok?''
Rocky blushed at the response of the cockapoo. Skye was one of the only members of the Paw patrol to know how much Rocky cared for the chocolate lab.
``Yeah...I mean there isn't anything he can't handle, and he has Ryder and Chase out there with him! But...''
``But?'' She raised an eyebrow.
``I don't know...What if something happens or they find a lot more trash out there? I know I'm just worrying for nothing, but you never know..."
``True, but it isn't good for you to dwell on the possibilities Rocky.''
``I know but there was something I wanted to do for him today.''
``Ohhhh?''
Skye beamed, leaning in close to Rocky. The pup looked away in slight embarrassment.
``Well, I mean there was something I wanted to give him, I've been working on it for a little bit and think it will...get my point across.''
``And what point would that be?
``You know exactly what I mean Skye'' he said flatly.
``True, but it's so much cuter when you say it out loud.''
The recycle pup grinned at his smaller friend. He appreciated the light teasing from time to time, but he couldn't but his head back towards the open ocean. Rocky's ears lowered, he took a few steps towards the edge of the water, The waves just barely touching his front paws.
``I'm worried though Skye, what if I don't get to give it to him? What if something happens? This is going to sound selfish; I know there is still a lot to clean up here on the beach. It's still ways away from being done, but a part of me just really wants to be with him right now...to make sure he's ok...''
``I feel that...''
Another voice made Rocky Jump; his paws fell forward and stepped into the water of the shore.
``AHH! Wet WET! Ewwww!''
The cold water strung at the edge of his digits, and he fled backwards to get away from the wetness. Only to bump into the figure right behind him. Some pup much bigger than Skye.
``Ooooof''
``Marshall...'' Skye said with a giggle.
The dalmatian had noticed the little convo Skye and Rocky were having and decided to join in, though he was not expecting the sudden serious topic they were discussing.
``Sorry! Didn't mean to eavesdrop or end up in this position hehehe''
Rocky had fallen backwards on Marshall; The Mixed breed was currently laying on his friends' chest. A comfortable feeling, but one he was already used to from their constant crashes in the elevator. He stood up and helped Marshall back on his four legs.
``I know how you feel Rocky, I worry about Chase all the time when I'm not on a mission with him.''
Rocky winced a little, he wondered if this is how Chase felt when he eavesdropped on him regarding his then confused feelings towards the fire pup.
``Do you ever want to drop what you're doing and go see him?''
``Oh yeah, All the time, but I don't leave a job unattended too. We have a duty as the Paw patrol to make sure it's done first and foremost.''
``Oh...right...'' Rocky said sadly.
``But you know, it seems like all of Adventure Bay is here to help out today, just look!''
The fire pup pointed out the several other residents along the beach, Mr. Porter and Alex were collecting some old tins and paper and putting them in bags. Mayor Goodway and Cap?n Turbot were coordinating with Rubble on which stacks of debris he should lift off the beach first, Even Daring Danny X, who would much rather practice his next daring Sunt, was using his bike to haul boxes away from the shore.
``I don't know about you, but I think this beach is going to get cleaned up...really quick!'' Marshall said with a wink of his eye. Rocky looked at him in confusion.
Skye picked up on Marshalls sneaky attitude.
``Oh yeah! And your truck is almost filled up, while our vehicles are barely full. We can totally pick up what's left out here.''
Rocky instinctively turned his head sideways at his friends, curious what the pups were trying to imply to him.
``What I mean is that things look to be covered here and there could very well be more trash out on the open ocean that needs to be picked up!''
``Right, but dang, none of our vehicles can pick up that stuff. Only if there was a tugboat for that. Darn!'' Skye pouted, though clearly very faking it.
Rocky giggled at their response, finally understanding what they were getting at.
``You sure you all will be ok out here?''
``We'll be more than ok'' The cockapoo beamed back.
``Go to him'' Marshall smiled.
The recycle pups tail wagged excitedly. He turned to throw the last of his bagged trash into back of his truck. It was just about full but could fit a few more things in there. He was about to leaped into his truck before stopping to turn back around. The mixed breed jumped forward and hugged both Marshall and Skye, the two returned the embrace.
``Thank you!''
With that, Rocky turned back and jumped into his truck. He sped passed his friends and onto the wooden pier, just as his truck leaped off the end of it, the vehicle converted into his tugboat. With a quick steer of the wheel. He made his way towards the direction of the closet pup tags he could read on his radar.
``Be there soon Zuma.''
