As it turns out, there was nothing more rewarding on this vast, blue planet than a nice, fresh dinner after a long game of tag. Just moments prior, Ryder had called out to the three of them and put an end to what might've been an endless cycle of running after one another, given that all of them were stubborn enough to refuse to be the last one tagged—because nothing should matter more to a puppy than their own pride at a game. Originally, Marshall—the one who had most recently been tagged—was a bit disappointed, but even he ignored it for the promise of food.

With more or less the same visible excitement radiating off the two siblings while looking out of the glass window, the trio of pups all waited patiently to arrive at the top of the elevator for their grand feast. To add to the torture of waiting, It felt like it was taking hours, maybe days for the trip to end, despite it only feeling like seconds the first time.

Thankfully, their patience was rewarded with the opening of the doors and the smell of kibble drifting through the air and directly into their noses. With their rumbling stomachs, pretty much anything would've smelt like a delicacy, but this especially applied to Skye and Marshall who seemed far more eager than their shepherd friend. If this was a cartoon, odds were they would've lifted into the air while following a visible trail of the aroma with their noses.

For the time being, however, all they had were their paws to carry them as fast as they could. The two of them barreled inside—almost sliding across the floor—while Chase was left to try his best and catch up with them, which was easier said than done. Regardless of how hard he pushed his legs, he knew trying to beat them was pointless, excitement and hunger were probably two of the highest forces that could affect speed. From his own experience, at least.

"Well, you three came quickly. Here's your food, I'll get the other bowls in just a second," Ryder welcomed them, placing a singular blue bowl against the ground in front of Chase. The Dalmatian and Cockapoo looked down at the filled bowl, then brought their eyes back to each other with unconvinced raised eyebrows while sharing the same thought. Something had to be wrong here.

"We get all of that?" she asked in disbelief. Their owner, not too shocked at their confusion, shook his head and sat two more bowls in front of her and her brother—colored pink and red respectively. He was under the assumption that it would clear up their question, but all that it really did was widen their eyes in shock.

"No, sorry, that was just Chase's. Those are your actual food bowls, I don't know if you guys have had this type of food before, so let me know if it's alright." Still beyond surprised—with faces equivalent to being handed a million-dollar check out of the blue, the two glanced at one another before taking a small bite of the food.

It was amazing, but that didn't stop them from slowly looking up at their owner, still expecting him to reveal the punchline of whatever strange joke was surely being played on them. However, after hearing no such mention of a prank, they eventually gave in, smiling at one another before burying their faces into the bowl.

The taste of the food itself was something straight out of a feast from a castle at the end of a fairy tale, even if it felt insanely rebellious to be eating so much food in a single sitting. For as perfect as they both would've agreed it was, somewhere around the halfway mark, each of them unanimously brought their heads back up and pushed their bowls away.

"Thank you, Ryder, it was really good," Marshall exclaimed, with the Cockapoo nodding in unquestionable agreement. The boy grinned graciously and bent down to collect their bowls, only to freeze after seeing how much was left in the bowl—an amount he had never seen a dog willingly turn up before. Curiously, he looked back at Chase, who was the only one with his head still in the bowl while he tried to complete his self-appointed mission to clean his bowl.

"How come you two didn't eat much? If you don't like it, I won't be upset if you tell me, I'd rather be buying something you enjoy." Now appearing just as confused as he did, including looking at one another to confirm if they were hearing him right, the two felt like they were teaching kids younger than them. This was simple logic, surely someone as old and wise as him would understand that by now.

"It was weally good, but you gave us a lot of food, isn't that all we're supposed to eat?" Skye asked in return, answering his question with one of her own. The boy narrowed his eyebrows as he dug into his pocket, pulling out his phone and beginning to type against the screen. A few seconds passed before he turned it off and slipped it back inside his pocket, and only then did he look at them with certainty in his eyes.

"I gave you the recommended amounts for your age and breeds, that should be what you two have always gotten. Aren't you two still hungry?" Ryder looked between them as they each looked at the other sibling in bewilderment. The average amount? Was he trying to fatten them up or something?

"Well, yeah, I'm still hungwy, I'm sure Marshall is too. But it's enough for tonight, we need to eat in the mowning too. Why? How long does this food last?" Skye innocently questioned, suddenly triggering the realization in their new owner. Now frowning with sympathy, Ryder bent onto his knees and gently pet the top of their heads, already worrying about what circumstances had thrown them into the mindset they probably had.

"Skye, Marshall, we don't have to ration the food. You can eat all of what I gave you until you're full, I'm going to feed you twice a day, every day. There's no such thing as having to save your food to survive here. Plus, and I mean this in a nice way, you two need to gain some weight. The pound said you both were unhealthily underweight." The explanation seemed like something they should know by now, eating everything whether it was edible or not was one of the classical traits of a puppy, but he could see the fireworks going off behind their eyes. The tail wags should've shown enough, but he could still see the confusion clouding their better judgment.

"But what if you fowget to feed us?" To him, the previous question was at least reasonable given the history he knew about them, being strays and all wasn't the best environment to have a healthy meal every night. This, on the other, threw him for a loop. The worry in her voice went against him like a weighted vest, creating a certain pressure that he couldn't oppose while he also had to wonder why this was even something she wasn't sure about.

"Why would I ever forget to feed you?" he hesitantly asked her, carefully petting the side of her head in the worry that he was treading into uncomfortable territory. The cockapoo remained in her confused position, biting her tongue before raising her eyes and stuttering over her words before eventually forcing something out.

"Well..." she trailed off, looking to her side to catch Marshall's expression. The Dalmatian shook his head, sending a mental sign that only the siblings were able to understand. Their language was far out of his understanding, but the nod she answered with gave him at least the vaguest idea that he wouldn't be getting an answer. Not tonight. "N-nevewmind, sowwy, Ryder."

"Oh don't be sorry, I just felt like I should ask. But I'll never forget to, please, eat as much as you'd like. The food isn't going anywhere." With that hopefully certain promise, the two felt obliged to silence the softened rumbling in their stomachs. It was almost freeing in a way, having such few restrictions being forced on them to simply make it through another day. It felt a lot closer to living instead of just surviving.

Within a matter of seconds, there wasn't a single crumb of food left in their bowls, and the siblings were left leaning against the bottom of the couch with paws over their stomachs. As worn out as they looked, despite this being the meal they'd get every day, each of them had smiles on their faces, which thankfully meant something had gone right.

"Did you like dinner?" Chase asked as he ran up to them with a wagging tail. Skye and Marshall both looked at each other and tiredly laughed, they didn't even need to consider it to have a definite answer. They had only been here for less than a day and they already felt like they'd never have to eat another bite again.

"Dude...I don't think I've ever eaten that much. Y-you really get that every day?" Marshall interrogated, almost sounding like he was out of breath. The shepherd smiled and nodded proudly, clearly pleased with his new roommate's satisfaction. He glanced back at his owner, who gave him a quick thumbs-up of approval—which was more or less his own equivalent of getting a gold star.

"Yep! For breakfast and for dinner, and that's not even close to the coolest thing here!" With their attention now easily grasped within the pads of his paw, the two curiously raised their eyebrows while wondering what else this new home had to offer. After seeing this as an opportunity to further improve the relationships he already seemed to be building up, Chase looked back at Ryder with a wagging tail, fully ready to give him the puppy eyes if he really needed to. "Can we give them their tags?"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about those. Sure, I'll go grab them, you three don't tear anything up, and don't eat anything either" he instructed, mainly eyeing the German Shepherd who nodded sheepishly. Even though that incident was weeks ago, it appeared that he still wasn't fully forgiven for eating Ryder's burger that was left on the table. Not that he'd ever make such a mistake again, one scolding was enough for him.

"I know, I know," the pup grumbled in response, looking away as his owner left his side and went off to grab their new roommates' gifts. Skye and Marshall were pretty much clueless about the entire ordeal, each of them had a tilted head—which Chase silently wished wasn't in curiosity about the burger incident.

"Tags? What's so special about those?" The Cockapoo had yet to be convinced, from her understanding, tags were nothing more than a piece of cheap leather with a small, metal bone hanging from it with her name and owner's phone number engraved. Not that she had worn one before, but the idea of having something strapped around her neck sounded far from comfortable.

"No, trust me, Ryder has these super awesome tags. I have no clue how they work, but you'll love them," he explained, proudly raising his chest and showing off the one that he wore. Although the siblings looked far from interested, Marshall eventually shrugged so they could at least get it over with. He wasn't confident that it would last, but trying it on should hopefully get them off the hook for a while.

Clearly, there wasn't a whole lot they could do to get out of this, even if they both would have if given the option. And after about a minute or so, Ryder returned with a pink and red collar in hand each hand. The boy, seeing that he was the more eager out of the two, bent down and slipped the collar around Marshall's neck, who definitely didn't mind taking his time to show a reaction.

The Dalmatian first bent his head down and sniffed the collar, which was always the first job for a dog whenever they were presented with anything new—quite literally anything, whether it be living or not. He shook himself a few times to test how it felt while he was moving, pondering the thousands of responses he could give before he finally chose one.

"Wow, this is actually really comfy. You should try it, sis, it's not that bad," he tried to convince her, intrigued by the more technological tag hanging from the collar when he started randomly poking it. Holding onto the hope that his encouragement was enough—despite knowing full well that might just be false hope—Ryder tried to do the same with her, moving her own collar closer to her neck.

"No! Quit it! I don't wanna wear it," she complained, leaning her head backward and gently pawing him away—claws tucked away to spare his skin. Unfortunately, trying to push it any further would very well be risking her to not be so generous with her claws. The scratches and bites from a puppy were not those to be underestimated. Talking his way out seemed the only option, he had a feeling she wouldn't be too hesitant to bite if it came down to it.

"Skye, please sit still, the sooner you stop the sooner it'll be over. If you don't like it I'll take it off, can you at least try it on?" The Cockapoo, much to his disappointment, only shook her head with plenty of determination. He even tried to reach out again, but that only caused her to ever so slightly bare her teeth and send his hands in the air in surrender. "Alright, fine, what if I give you a treat? Now will you try it?"

"Fine," she grumbled, lowering her head in submission. Still moving slowly and hesitantly, Ryder slowly set the leather around her neck, once again seeing her upper lip twitching as a warning sign. Admittedly, it was pretty nerve-wracking, but he had faith that it was only her instincts kicking in and not an actual threat to him. She had given him permission, after all, everything should work out.

Finally, after clicking it into place, he moved back while the Cockapoo eyed the piece of leather. Curiously, she gently pulled at it with her paws, readjusting it a bit—which managed to make Ryder even more worried. If by any chance the collar didn't fit to her comfort level, which was pretty likely since he had no reference when making them, he'd be forced to take it off and change the size until she found it acceptable. And something told him that bribing her to wear it would only work a few times.

"This...isn't bad, actually. Thanks, Wyder!" The boy sighed at how quickly she had changed her mind, just as thankful as he was irritated. Although part of him was wondering if she was only being stubborn just to get this from him, he did still toss her the treat she was promised, something he knew he couldn't do for every little thing he needed them to do. They already had so much energy, getting them hyped up on sugar was a disaster waiting to happen.

"I told you so, and guess what? They can even call each other!" Skye and Marshall quickly brought their attention to Chase, raising their eyebrows with obvious uncertainty. Every time they thought they had seen everything, something else just ended up being thrown their way.

"But I thought only those weird things humans cawwied around could do that?" Chase shook his head and threw that idea away, although he couldn't say he thought any differently when he first heard of it. Only humans always seemed weird enough to have such advanced technology for the simplest of tasks, that was at least something they could all agree on.

"I did too, but Ryder made them able to do it. Watch this," he insisted, fumbling with his tag as he attempted to show off the feature—emphasis on attempt, maybe remembering which buttons did what before this would've been smartest. The other two probably thought he was going crazy until he finally found the right button and managed to select the blank pink icon that would send the signal to the respective tag. A loud buzz echoed from the Cockpoo's, and at first, she jumped in surprise before tapping the screen until she saw her friend looking back.

"Woah...this is cool!" She eagerly exclaimed, her tail beginning to wag now that she finally seemed on board. The call ended just as quickly as it started, but it was enough to prove that it worked, the technology had spoken for itself on behalf of whatever their owner was capable of—which seemed like pretty much anything to them.

"What other cool stuff does this place have?" Marshall asked, sharing the same excitement that was radiating off of his sister. The shepherd took a quick glance outside just to confirm that it was dark out—low and behold, it was pitch black—before turning back to Ryder and tilting his head. Without any words, the boy was able to figure out what the question was.

"Go ahead, boy, that feature isn't here for nothing." A single sentence of approval was all he needed, prompting him to run to the wall, flip open a glass covering, and press a button. Any questions that might've been asked in the near future were turned to silence as a loud shift came from the roof above them, initially making Skye and Marshall nervously scoot closer to one another until their sides were pressed against each other.

However, instead of whatever they were worried about that happening, the roof parted into two separate sections and moved away from each other, disappearing in a similar fashion to a convertible car roof. Eventually, the ceiling had fully parted and left the sky as the new roof above their heads. A lifeless, dark void that stretched for millions of miles on end, but also riddled with bright stars that managed to bring out the color in the vast world.

"I-it's...so pwetty." The Cockapoo never spoke above a whisper, her head locked to the scenery magically floating above them through the vacuum of space. Despite being mid-yawn himself, Marshall ended up leaning against her, now comfortably brushing against her and following her eyes.

"There's so many stars here..." he muttered, almost tearing up. He somehow managed to pry his eyes away from the spectacle above him and back down to Skye, his gaze being noticed in her peripheral vision which got her to look back—although she partially wished he wouldn't steal her attention away from the sky. "D-do you remember when Daddy used to take us out to see the stars?"

"Y-yeah...I miss when it was like that. I miss him and Mommy. B-but I guess it's nice here too, it's weally diffewent, but I kinda like it." Marshall nodded and looked back up, and the two—more or less exactly in sync—wrapped one of their forelegs around the other's backs as they drowned in the seas of the space above them and the past memories behind them.

"Maybe we can visit them someday, but I also think it's nice here. It's a lot more...peaceful." Skye doubted her ability to have said it better herself, the overall atmosphere was so far from what they were used to, but it was a strangely comfortable change of pace. Even if they didn't have their parents by their sides, the love bestowed upon them by Ryder and Chase was something they both knew they could get used to, even if they weren't the parental guardians they remembered in such a fond light.

With multiple yawns being shared between the two of them, Marshall's head tiredly succumbed to the weight pulling down on him and drifted onto the other's shoulder, who glanced down at him. Each could see the drooping eyelids and smiles from the other, sparking two questions within themselves that were easily seen through the perception of their sibling.

Where on Earth were they going to sleep? And more importantly, could they go there as soon as possible?