Pink Lightning-A Paw Patrol Story

Chapter Twelve

Three weeks have passed since Skye got struck by lightning. She walked into the Lookout and noticed the others. They had already started eating their breakfast. Skye walked up to her bowl and ate with them. Since it was still early in the morning, they ate in silence. 

"I'm going to patrol the city," Chase told Ryder after they finished eating. 

Skye had gone with Chase to patrol the town five or six times during the last three weeks. He took her to the mountain to practice controlling her new powers afterward. Chase would sometimes stay to help her practice, and other times he would leave to do things but returned when it was time to head back.

"When are you going to tell the others about your powers?" Chase had asked her on their way back from the most recent trip.

Skye stayed silent for a minute before answering. "I don't know, Chase," she replied at last. "I just want to wait for the right moment."

Chase nodded understandably. "I get that, but coming from experience, it's sometimes best to speak up rather than keeping secrets."

Skye wondered what he was referring to, but judging from his silence, she guessed that Chase didn't want to share more details.

Skye wanted to ask if she could go with him again, but looking at Chase during breakfast, Skye could tell that he wanted some alone time. Chase turned to her and realized that she was staring at him. He smiled as if saying, I'll be fine.

"Okay, Chase," Ryder said. "Call if you need anything."

"Will do, Ryder, sir." Chase walked out of the Lookout.

The pups looked at each other. "So, what should we do now?" Marshall asked.

"How about hide-n-seek?" Rubble suggested. The others agreed.

As they were walking out the door, Ryder stopped Skye. "Hey, Skye," he said. "Can we talk for a minute?"

Skye looked outside. The others looked at her curiously but then smiled and kept walking, giving Ryder and Skye privacy. "Um, sure, Ryder," Skye asked.

Skye followed Ryder to the elevator. They took it up to the top floor and walked out onto the balcony. There were a couple of long beach chairs along the wall, so Ryder and Skye occupied two. Ryder sat on the edge of the chair, facing Skye, with his feet on the ground. His arms were leaning against his thighs.

"How are you doing, Skye?" he said in a soothing tone.

"I'm good, Ryder," she replied. "Why?"

"Because during breakfast, you seemed distracted," Ryder explained. "Is it about your new powers?"

Skye was shocked by the question. "You . . . You know about them?"

Ryder smiled sympathetically. "Yeah. I wondered why you were so eager to go along with Chase during patrols."

"But the others have also been with Chase on patrols," Skye defended. "Not just me. Zuma went with him yesterday."

"True, but you seem different from the others. They did it for fun or to learn. You went with Chase like he was helping you with something. That's when I noticed a pink flash in the mountains. Maybe three days ago?"

Skye felt like she got hit in the gut. She remembered what had happened that day. Chase helped Skye improve with her shots. Skye wanted a challenge, so Chase shot four tennis balls at once. Skye concentrated and shot a lightning bolt and the tennis balls. The lightning bolt grew twice the size of bolts that Skye summoned before. The lightning bolt disintegrated the balls, hit a boulder halfway out of the ground and erupted in every direction.

"Anyway, I used this telescope to find out what it was," Ryder continued. "I saw you flying without your wings. And you were shooting pink lightning bolts out of your paws."

"Why didn't you talk to me about it earlier?" Skye asked.

Ryder shrugged. "I guess I didn't find the right time to bring it up. I just wanted to make sure that you don't hurt yourself. Have you told the others about it?"

Skye shook her head. "The only ones that know about it are you and Chase. I'm planning on telling them. I don't know when, though."

"Well, don't take too long to tell them. It's best not to have secrets from your family and friends." Skye couldn't help but think how similar that was to what Chase said a few days ago.

"Okay, Ryder," she replied.

Ryder smiled. "Thanks. You can go play with the others if you want."

Skye nodded and stood up. She walked by the telescope, tempted to look through it and find out where Chase was but chose against it. She took the elevator back down to the first floor and walked out of the Lookout.

When she walked outside, she took a step back as Marshall ran by, followed by Rocky. Marshall turned his head and smiled. "Hey, Skye," he said. A second later, Marshall ran into the side of his puphouse. He shook off the dizziness and got up.

Rocky walked up to the dalmation and touched him on the shoulder. "Tag, you're it," he exclaimed.

"Aw, man," Marshall complained. "Skye, do you want to play?"

"Sure," Skye said. She needed something to help her take her mind off things. As Marshall counted to twenty with his eyes closed. Skye ran in the other direction.

Marshall eventually found Rubble hiding inside his puphouse. Rubble caught Rocky behind a bush, who found Zuma inside their pool. "No fair," Rocky complained. "I can't touch you without getting wet."

Zuma splashed some water near Rocky's feet, who backed away. "I guess you're going to have to catch someone else."

Rocky sighed and turned around. Marshall didn't see Rocky until it was too late. He crashed into the mixed breed, and they landed in the pool. "Yuck," Rocky said. "It hasn't even been a month yet."

"Never too early to take a bath, dude," Zuma said.

"Haha," Rocky said sarcastically. "Anyway, you're it." He tapped Zuma in the back and ran away. Marshall did the same thing.

Zuma looked around and noticed Chase walking around the corner. "Hey, Chase, do you want to play hide-n-seek?" he asked.

"Sure, why not?" Chase replied.

Chase ran off as Zuma counted. They continued playing the rest of the day until an unexpected thing happened. 

They heard City Hall's bell go off. Rubble stopped looking for the others and turned towards the town. "Should the bell be going off at two in the afternoon?" he asked.

"No, it shouldn't," said Chase, who appeared behind the bulldog.

Rubble jumped and turned around. "Woah, you scared me," Rubble said.

"Sorry," Chase apologized. The others walked up around them. "But you're right, Rubble. It shouldn't be going off at this time."

"Then why is it?" Skye asked.

"I'm not sure," Chase said. As soon as he said that, their pup tags rang.

"Paw Patrol, to the Lookout," Ryder said through their pup tags.

"Well, something tells me Ryder might know," Chase added. "Come one. Ryder needs us."