When The Past Becomes The Future

The Price You Pay For Freedom

"Yeah, but there are two problems with that. One, where is this computer. Two, how are we going to get to it without being caught?" asked Marshall. Nobody had an answer to that question yet.

"We've still gotta work that out," said Rubble, scratching his head.

"Assuming we can get you to the computer, after you take down the system and unlock the doors, how are we going to get out? There are going to be masses of people coming after us, and without our powers, we can't fight them all, even with our Pup-Fu." Zuma said. "And where are the doors?"

"Yeah, we gotta figure that out too," said Taja. Marshall was teaching the siblings Pup-Fu in their spare time, and they learned the basics, but were nowhere near as good as the Master Pups.

"And some of us are really weak from hunger..." said Ryder, looking down at the poor pups. Ryder wasn't made to do everything they were forced to do. He was cooked delightful meals every day, but wasn't allowed to share them. Namely, the weak pup he was talking about was Rocky. Needless to say, Rocky fought Jason in everything, never doing what he said willingly, but even more so that all the other pups. And he was always letting someone else eat before him, and it was slowly killing him. If he had lost constantly to one pup, they would've figured it out and told him to stop, but Jason had them on a rotation, and he never raced against the same pup twice in a week, so no one really noticed.

"Yeah, and what of Chase? We don't know if he's been freed for Jason's control yet. He could unintentionally betray us." said Marcus, looking at Chase in sympathy. Nothing worked, Chase could still sense the buzzing in the back of his head, a constant reminder that he was not operating under his own will, and his actions could be altered at any time Jason saw fit.

"There's nothing we can do about that..." mumbled Marshall.

"We don't know how Jason's power works yet, so we can't figure out how to reverse it," said Skye. They had a plan with holes in it, and now there were trying to plug them up. Plan after plan had been thrown away, and Rocky had just about given up hope. This plan also was thrown out, and they were left again with nothing. That's all Jason ever left them with.

The door opened, and the pup walked down the hall to the familiar room. It was getting old, and all the pups had become apathetic concerning this. The games were ever-changing, never the same. They ranged from harmless to deadly. Today as they figured out the course set before them, no one really moved with any kind of hurry.

Quite the opposite of Marcus and Taja's prediction, their hungry did not drive them, it slowed them down. No one wanted to move from their holding cells. No one wanted to do anything. The pain and hunger was a gnawing irritation in the background of the pups' minds. Today, Chase did manage to win (only because Skye had noticed that he hadn't eaten in a while and lost to him on purpose.)He ate what was provided, and it did nothing but take the edge of the sharp, biting pain in his belly. It wasn't enough. It was never enough.

He looked dully at the other pups as they filed by him. The winners for the day were he, Marshall, Marcus, and Zuma. the rest went hungry again. Nothing made Chase feel anything anymore. He'd given up on getting out. The plan has too many holes, and we can't figure them out. Chase had accepted this as his new reality.

Jason, however, was on cloud nine. His plan to slowly break the pups was working. He'd broken Marshall's spirit first, he was the easiest. Rubble had come next, then Chase. Marcus and Taja's spirits were all but gone, but they still held to the hope that Rocky would figure out how to get out.

Then there was Zuma. He was rougher than he usually is, and more insensitive. But he still held fiery resentment against Jason.

And lastly, we had Rocky. Everyone's hopes depended upon him. Rocky could literally feel the pressure on his shoulders, and he stayed up many a night, remembering everything he knew about the place, always trying to come up with a solution. But to no avail. They were still imprisoned and that was that. Even worse, Rocky could feel his self-esteem and self-worth slipping away from him, becoming nothing more than words to him. The pups tried to tell him that all this wasn't his fault, but Jason told him every single day that he was worthless and that everything was his fault. At first, he hadn't believed him, but now he was starting to. I wonder how Adventure Bay is fairing without us? Mused Chase as they dragged themselves back to their prison. Those people were always getting in trouble... Chase thought. Skye walked over to his side and looked at him. A sudden spring of energy sprung up into his heart as he looked into her still, sad eyes. She was the only one that could change his apathetic mood into anything other.