Today is the annual PAW Patrol Appreciation Day. Ryder invited Everest into town for a few days for the event. She parked her pup house at The Lookout. Mayor Goodway just finished her opening speech and is walking off the stage when Ryder steps up to the podium.
"Thank you for being here today," he says into the mic. "As a present to you all for all this the PAW Patrol and I set up an event. It's called Spread the Appreciation. It's where you get to show the one you think deserves to be appreciated too. All you do is write their name on a piece of paper and put it in the box in the voting booth next to the stage. The one that is written down the most gets to have their picture hanging on a wall of the Great Hall for all to look at for the years to come."
"We can put anyone's name in the box!?" asks Alex.
"Yes Alex," replies Ryder.
"Then I think I'll put your name in there," exclaims Alex. Ryder chuckles a bit.
"Okay, just this once," shrugs Ryder. "But don't forget to put your grandpa's name in there too." The crowd gathered around cheers out loud.
"I think my name should be in there too!" calls out Mayor Humdinger of Foggy Bottom as he walks up on stage.
"Okay," says Ryder slowly. "As long as someone thinks you should be appreciated they can do that."
"The box will be taken away at the end of the day," Ryder says to the crowd. "The pups and I will read them when we're not busy. The names will be called out on the ten o'clock news the day after we finish counting them."
Three days later, at Foggy Bottom City Hall
Mayor Humdinger is at his desk having just finished his workload of the day. It is in the afternoon, past the time for the ten o'clock news. But, he had his secretary watch it on TV for him. He calls for him to enter. His secretary is the guy that rode with him in the hot balloon race that one episode.
"Oh my secretary who helps me in the City Hall," says Mayor Humdinger. "Who's the most popular person in Spread the Appreciation of them all?"
"The news reporter caught Ryder and two of the pups as they are returning from a rescue," the secretary begins to explain. "He says that he's done going through the names. The lineup is as follows: first is himself, then the parents of the children, then the helpful children, and lastly is you. He asks that everyone gathers in front of the City Hall tomorrow at three. Where the unveiling of the picture that's going to be hung on the wall and a speech from him will be held."
"What!" yells Mayor Humdinger. "Get out of here!" After the secretary runs out in fear Mayor Humdinger goes through a secret passage to get to his lair. That is where he keeps The Kitten Catastrophe Crew and spies on Mayor Goodway, Ryder, and the PAW Patrol. He goes straight to the bookshelf full of books that tells how to make certain stuff Mayor Humdinger can use while making trouble. He begins taking books out of it, looking through it quickly, then tossing it to one side. Eventually he stops at one book about drugs that causes discomfort. In that book are drugs that makes the consumer feel woozy for a day and throw up once or twice. But, that isn't the poison Mayor Humdinger stopped on.
"Here's the perfect one," exclaims Mayor Humdinger. "This concoction will painfully put the victim into a coma that will make even their vital signs' looks will be mistaken as death. The only way to wake the victim is by pouring the antidote down their throat. And I'll only tell them how to make it if they award me first place." He gets to work in his little lab he has down there with him.
The next morning, at The Lookout
The pups are at the park while Ryder just did the grocery shopping. He is just about to start putting the groceries away when he hears the automatic doors open and close.
"Hello Ryder! Where are you?!" Ryder hears Mayor Humdinger call out.
"I'm in the kitchen!" calls back Ryder. "Follow my voice!" Ryder is pouring the last of the fruit into the bowls on the counter when Mayor Humdinger walks into the kitchen.
"Ryder, my secretary told me what you said on the news today," says Mayor Humdinger as he walks towards the fruit as Ryder walks to the refrigerator to put the milk and veggies in there. "And I'm here to congratulate you."
"Thank you Mayor Humdinger," replies Ryder.
"And I think we should share an apple to celebrate," continues Mayor Humdinger as he walks towards the cutting board next to the fruit with an apple, but there's the same number of apples in the bowl as before. Mayor Humdinger extremely carefully cuts the apple in half and hands one of them to Ryder. Ryder accepts it without noticing anything wrong.
"To your victory in this affair," says Mayor Humdinger as he holds up his half.
"And to the hope of more times like these," responds Ryder.
"What do you mean?" asks Mayor Humdinger. Ryder chuckles.
"I mean just spending time together not having you cause trouble and me doing my job," answers Ryder.
"Whatever," exclaims Mayor Humdinger. Then they take the first bite of their apple halves.
"So, how has Foggy Bottom been doing?" asks Ryder as he chews and puts the last things in the refrigerator.
"I don't get out much," answers Mayor Humdinger after swallowing his bite. Ryder swallows as he closes the refrigerator door and turns around. But, as his half of the apple touches his lips for another bite he feels a stabbing pain in the middle of his chest, which made him drop his half of apple to clutch the front of his jacket as he falls to his knees. Then there is a burning sensation in his stomach that makes the poor boy double over. While he's like that he pulls up one of his sleeves to open a watch he has underneath it. He presses a button in it to send a last resort destress signal to the pups through their pup tags. Then he falls over onto his side. He rolls onto his back as he feels the pain in his stomach and chest dimming, getting ready for whatever comes next. He sees Mayor Humdinger kneeling over him.
"I'm sorry I had to do this to you," coos Mayor Humdinger, taking the last bite of his half of the apple and tosses it on the floor in a corner. "But you do know how much I love to win anything and everything." Ryder couldn't say anything due to it getting increasingly harder to breathe as he begins gasping for air. Mayor Humdinger leaves The Lookout as Ryder's gasps quickens. The front door shuts as Ryder's body starts convulsing, fighting for air. A moment later everything stops as his entire body goes limp. He feels numb all over. His head rolls to the side while his eyes then closes as he loses the ability to move even his toes. Ryder is left alone lying on the floor of The Lookout's kitchen, looking as if he had died at that moment.
A moment or two later
The seven pups that were at the park comes rushing in. Upon not seeing their beloved leader right away they split up. It is Rubble that looked in the kitchen and finds Ryder's body. At first Rubble tries to wake Ryder by his usual hop onto the boy's stomach. Seeing absolutely no reaction from his beloved leader he calls out to the others by howling as loud as he could. Once the others have arrived they are shocked at what they see. Marshal, being the EMT pup, checks Ryder's heartbeat. Chase licks at the boy's face profusely. All this while the others franticly calls out to him. It is when Marshal raises a paw the other pups stops what they are doing.
"It's no use, he's dead," reports Marshal with his voice heavy with sorrow. The other pups whimpers for a bit before bursting into howls of woe, Marshal joins in a second or two later.
Sometime later
The pups stop howling before they all lose their voices completely.
"Okay, I'll stay here and see what I can figure out about what happened here," exclaims Chase, now taking charge. "You guys spread the word that Ryder is dead." The other pups nods and runs outside and scatters to all corners of Adventure Bay, even to Seal Island. Chase slowly sniffs the entire kitchen floor.
At three o'clock
Along with the townsfolk they called for the actual police and got the go ahead to move Ryder's body. The PAW Patrol was formed to deal with minor problems so that the actual police, firefighters, and the other emergency people can focus on the major ones. The actual police trusts Chase around the crime scene because he came from there. Before the PAW Patrol was formed Chase went through all the training to be a police dog when he was very small. But, he was too young to join the adult police dogs. That's when Ryder came in. He had just started looking for gifted pups to form a team to help Adventure Bay with minor problems.
The stage is where the PAW Patrol Appreciation Day speech was held. Once the news has spread that Ryder is dead everyone pitched in. Rocky used the wood from old wooden crates Farmer Yumi supplied to make a coffin. Katie sewed new wool that was supplied by Farmer Al into old pet pillows to use as liners for the homemade coffin. Captain Turbot and Jake are the ones to lift Ryder's body into the coffin and carry it to Marshal's EMT truck. Then, at the place, carry it to a spot on the stage. Mr. Porter led everyone else from town into the forest to pick flowers to cover Ryder's body with. On the stage is a covered up easel.
Mayor Goodway steps up to the podium.
"Attention people of Adventure Bay," says Mayor Goodway through the mic, everyone stops their mutterings over seeing Rider's body to listen. "In honor of the memory of Rider the ceremony of Spread the Appreciation will go on. As he said, the winner is himself." Mayor Goodway then takes the covering off from the easel. On the easel is a picture of Rider that Katie and the pups that were not helping with anything had supplied.
"Excuse me Mayor Goodway, but Rider can't be the winner due to him being dead," exclaims Mayor Humdinger as he climbs onto the stage and passes the pups to get to stand next to Mayor Goodway. "How about I take his place as winner?"
"Nuh, uh, uh Mayor Humdinger," replies Mayor Goodway. "Rider had done so much good in life that even in death he is well liked."
"Excuse me Mayor Humdinger," says Chase. "Where were you this morning at eleven?"
"I ran some errands around that time," responds Mayor Humdinger.
"Did any of them took you to The Lookout?" asks Chase.
"Yes one of them did," answers Mayor Humdinger.
"Which would explain your scent on a partially eaten half of an apple found near Rider's body. It had both Rider's and your scents on it. It also had a faint scent of something that doesn't belong on an apple, like a fast acting poison used to kill Ryder." Everybody around them gasps.
"Yes, it was me that poisoned Ryder," confesses Mayor Humdinger as he uses his fingers to put air quotes when he said 'poisoned'.
"What do you mean?" Zuma asks slowly.
"Check his brainwaves," exclaims Mayor Humdinger.
A little later it is confirmed that Ryder's not dead.
"See, told you," gloats Mayor Humdinger. "And I'll only give you the stuff to wake him up if you declare me the winner."
"Mayor Goodway, is it okay if we use him as a chew toy until he gives up how to wake Ryder?" asks Chase.
"Granted," replies Mayor Goodway.
"Noooo!" screams Mayor Humdinger as he attempts to run away. He falls off the back of the stage with all seven pups jumping after him. The crowed in front only hears shrieks of pain.
"Okay, okay, you win. Just get some of this down Ryder's throat and he'll wake up," says Mayor Humdinger after a short amount of time. Katie is the one to volunteer to administer the medicine. After putting the medicine in her mouth she lifts Ryder's head a bit with one hand while her other hand opens his mouth a bit. The second their lips connects she spits the medicine into his mouth. A moment or two later Ryder wakes up coughing. Everyone cheers as Katie helps Ryder off the homemade coffin. The rest of the day is turned into a celebration of Ryder not being dead. Mayor Humdinger was thrown out of Adventure Bay once Ryder was revived. Everyone is happy now.
The End