The titlecard, I finally edited it
Summary[]
When Mayor Goodway brings up a touchy subject, Rocky is plunged into a flashback where he struggles to survive and is saved by a young boy.
Characters[]
Story[]
[PAW Patrol Theme Song]
Scene Change to Rocky's badge
"All done Ryder! The city bell is all fixed!" Rocky barked."All that needs to be done now is cleaning up!"
"Good job, Rocky! Why don't you get to it, once you're done, you may have a special treat!" Ryder said.
"Awesome! I'll get right to it! Rawrf! Claw!" The mixed-breed called out.
"Oh, Ryder, Rocky's such a useful pup, where'd you ever find him?" Mayor Goodway asked.
"Actually, Mayor, I found him in the streets!" Ryder chuckled.
"Ryder. how can such a useful pup ever be in the streets?" Mayor Goodway asked.
"I don't know, Mayor, I really don't know," Ryder answered back.
"Oh, Ryder, I wish I could tell you where I really came from," Rocky mumbled under his breath
[Flashback]
"Hey, Rocky! I found a puddle!" Smoky called out to his older brother, since their parents had died the two young puppies were having trouble to survive and were trying to find some water.
"Good job Smoky!" The grey mixed breed called back to his younger brother. Rocky bent down to take a sniff at the water and wrinkled his nose. "Sorry, Smoky, but this water isn't fresh, we'll both get sick trying to drink that, let's keep looking."
Smoky frowned and sighed saying,"You're right, Rocky, we can't drink it. We have to keep looking." The small pup seemed not as optimistic as before.
"It's okay, Smoky, we'll find some water. Everything will be fine. Now come on, lets keep searching. Green means go!" Rocky said, smiling at his younger brother as he tried to cheer the small pup up.
The two puppies continued sniffing around every corner, thankfully a little after that, they spotted a puddle with clean rainwater.
As the two pups were lapping at the water, Smoky heard his stomach start to grumble.
"Rocky. I'm getting hungry. Do you know where we can find food?" Smoky asked.
"I don't know, Smoky, but it's getting late and we spent the whole day looking for water. Now we better find a shelter to go in for the night, we'll search for food tomorrow." Rocky answered.
Smoky sighed as his stomach growled some more.
The two puppies looked around, unfortunately, the only shelter close by was a park bench they could crawl under.
"Oh well," Rocky said sighing,"This'll have to do for tonight."
The two pups tried to get comfortable under the bench for the night, and they planned on finding food in the morning.
As the sun started rising, Rocky got up earlier than Smoky did and started searching around for food. He scavenged the entire area for food, but didn't find a single scrap.
"Hey, look! It's that dog who stole my pork chop last night, get him!" A man suddenly shouted.
Rocky looked up and saw a huge man running at him, before Rocky could react, the man was on top of him and had shoved him into a cage.
"Hey!" Rocky shouted. "What's this all about? I didn't steal the pork chop!"
"Stop lying, dumb mutt, I saw your shadow, I'm taking you to the pound where you belong," the big man said back at him.
"But I," Rocky tried saying.
"Shut up!" The man said again. Rocky would've continued arguing, but he didn't have the energy in him and was too hungry to keep on arguing and kept his mouth shut.
Rocky let the man carry him to the pound, the man spoke with the person at the front desk, then the man left Rocky at the pound.
"Well then mutt, you're staying with us from now on," the woman at the desk said.
Rocky started barking in defiance, but the woman just ignored him. Rocky gave up and started whimpering,"Oh, Smoky, I hope you're okay."
{Scene change}
An hour after Rocky was caught, Smoky woke up to find Rocky missing.
"Rocky?" Smoky called out. Smoky trembled in the cold as he looked around the park. When he couldn't find Rocky anywhere he whispered,"Oh, Rocky, I hope you're all right."
{Scene change}
Rocky was stuck in a cage when a couple people came by.
"Hey," a young boy called out,"Mom, Dad, can I get this dog?"
Rocky started craning his neck, hoping beyond hope that he'd get adopted by this stranger, it was better than staying in the pound.
Rocky saw a short boy, probably around seven or eight years old, and he was pointing at the cage Rocky was in.
"No, Ryder, you already have Chase, and we simply can't afford another pet right now," the older man said.
Ryder sighed and looked longingly at Rocky before leaving the pound. Rocky sunk back into depression and all he wondered about was when he would get out of here and find Smoky again.
Several days later, some people in uniforms followed by two dogs walked into the pound. Rocky's eyes were glazed and he blinked to clear his eyesight. Over the past few days, every person that walked in was a beacon of hope, but every person had chosen a dog other than him, he was losing the little bit of hope he had left.
"All right then, Jackie, Lyla, why don't you two pick our next recruit?" one of the uniformed men said, the two dogs nodded and started looking around the Pound.
Rocky then started barking as loud as possible, and he caught the attention of the smaller, darkly colored dog.
"What's your name? I'm Lyla," she said.
"Rocky, I have to get out of here, I was a stray and then I was caught, my brother is out there and I don't know where he is," he said desperately.
"Sorry, but we aren't a pity organization, I am a member of the forest patrol, and I am just here looking for someone who could be the next recruit, if you want to come with us, you will have to prove that you can be tough," she said, Rocky could detect some sympathy in her voice, but this pup meant business, and she wasn't fooling around.
"Okay then, can I be a recruit?" he asked hopefully.
Lyla rolled her eyes and said,"You do realize that you have to work, I know you want to see your brother again, but if the Forest Patrol doesn't think you're a worthy recruit, you're going back to the Pound,"
Rocky realized that he was taking the wrong approach and said,"Well, it is true that I want to see my brother again, but I promise I can make a good recruit. My parents died several months ago, and I have kept myself and my brother alive. If I join the Forest Patrol, then I will be able to search for my brother, but I also will work as hard as possible to stay in the group. I don't want to come back to the Pound, and I seriously hope that this is my ticket out of here."
Lyla nodded at him and turned around, towards the other set of cages, Rocky felt his last hope start to vanish. He had thought this pup would be his ticket back to Smoky, but clearly, he was wrong. He eyed the golden retriever walking around the other cages, and the green and brown uniform both Lyla and the golden retriever were wearing. All his life, Rocky had wanted a job, and his job had seemed to be taking care of Smoky, but now, he wanted his job to be as a member of the Forest Patrol, and to get out of the Pound, it seemed that now it was impossible.
Lyla and the golden retriever talked to the forest patrol, and then they all started nodding, it seemed that they knew which pup they would take as their new recruit, Rocky was sure that it wouldn't be him.
To his shock, Lyla and the golden retriever started walking towards him, and the humans were walking towards the clerk. Did they really choose me? He thought.
"Well, recruit, do you accept the post as a member of the forest patrol?" Lyla asked.
"No way, you aren't kidding!"
"Well, if anything you said earlier was genuine, then I think you'll make a great recruit,"
Rocky opened his mouth, but closed it again, words couldn't describe how happy he was. He watched as the clerk took the key for his cage, and he was placed on the ground gently. The golden retriever led him into the truck, and he sat next to Lyla.
"Rocky, welcome to the life of a forest patrol pup, I'm Jackie, and you met Lyla earlier," Jackie said. Rocky nodded. "Lyla told us how you wanted to get out of the Pound to find your brother again, know that we have your sympathies, but we expect you to serve loyally in return."
"Thank you," was all Rocky could say,"I promise to try my best."
"And that's all we expect," Jackie said,"Welcome to the group."
[A month later]
Rocky was wearing a brown and green uniform, with a special collar with a leaf pendant. He was happy with his job, and he was welll fed for the first time since his parents died. But, he knew that he wanted to find his brother more than anything.
"All right, a day's work well done," Jackie said,"Report back for duty tomorrow morning, precisely on time."
Rocky nodded and ran towards his dog house, this dog house had become his home, more of a home than the streets ever have been. He was happy with his life, but what he wanted more was for Smoky to share his happiness with him. Rocky liked his job, searching for animals, helping out animals, and enforcing laws of the forest, but he didn't love it. He remembered how much he enjoyed fixing broken mechanisms, and creating things out of items that he scavenged, and the satisfaction in seeing them work properly, is that what he wanted to do?
The life of a forest ranger pup was fun, Jackie was very kind, and she was the most experienced pup in the patrol, Jackie was motherly, and Rocky never got to know his mother, but Jackie was an experienced a loving pup that Rocky would have been glad to call a mother. Lyla was very humorous, but she always seemed to looking over her shoulder with a worried look on her face. Rocky was sure that there was something more about her that he didn't know.
There were perks and dips to being a forest ranger, but one problem was, there was rarely time for anything other than sleep, work, and food. Rocky wanted to get out of the Pound in the first place to find Smoky, but he hadn't had time to search for his brother, and the forest patrol never said anything about vacation days.
Rocky slowly drifted of to sleep, and dreamed of a job where he would have unlimited time to find Smoky, and be able to repair things out of recycled objects, the dream felt too good to be true.
The next day, the forest rangers were giving a tour to a family, and Rocky was assigned to help guide them. When Rocky saw the family, he recognized the young boy between them immediately, it was the boy he had seen the first day in the Pound.
"Greetings, I'm Rocky, a pup part of the Forest Patrol, I'm here to give you a tour of Adventure Bay Woods. Stick to the trail, listen to me when I'm speaking, and you will have a wonderful trip," he said professionally, Lyla had warned him over and over again about speaking professionally to guests, and Rocky was becoming a master at it.
"Rocky, were you the pup at the Pound about a month ago?" the young boy asked. Rocky had been trained not to betray emotion to visitors, but he made an exception and gave the young boy a slight smile, and then started walking.
The boy smiled back and as they walked through the woods, Rocky introducing both flora and fauna, the boy's family was in a huddled discussion. At the end of the tour, the boy started talking again.
"My name's Ryder by the way, these are my parents. I'm really sorry about what happened at the Pound a month ago. I know how much you must've hated it. My other dog, Chase, belonged to the Pound at one point too. Can you just forgive me?" Ryder said, with a tone of regret in his voice.
Rocky betrayed every lesson that Jackie and Lyla had ever taught him and said,"I forgive you." After saying those three words, he silently cursed to himself. He was supposed to act professional! If this was a test, he would have most certainly failed it!
Ryder smiled and he and his parents then left the ranger station. Rocky had a strange longing to go with him, but as he moved his paws forward, he suddenly felt exhaustion seep in, and he knew that he couldn't follow the boy, it wasn't his job.
More Coming Soon
Author Notes[]
- The one who stole the pork chop was actually Lia, who was trying to survive along with her sister, Lyla at the time. The big man, saw Lia's shadow, and thought Rocky was the one that stole his food.