The pack of dogs were thrown back in reality- quite literally. The Simulator machine shook violently, and it caused the canines to be chucked towards a wall. They all groaned and crawled off of each other.

Marshall chuckled sheepishly. "Heheh, sorry guys," the Dalmatian apologized. "At least it's a new record..."

"We were this close- Whubble, get your butt out of my face, dude!" The chocolate Lab barked at the Bulldog.

"What's your face doing there in the first place, Zuma?" Rubble growled back.

The mix-bred slithered out from between them. "Ugh, has anyone seen Skye?"

"Under here, Rocky..." the Cockapoo called. The mix-bred didn't even notice the tiny Poodle mix squashed beneath him. "Oops, sorry Skye..."

She stretched out and yipped, "It's okay! But are you okay Chase?"

The German Shepherd lay on his back, looking towards the ceiling. "Sure, I'm fine Skye." He rolled onto his legs then stood up. "Well, we did better than last time, team! And that'll be good news for Ryder."

"Do you think he will finally be convinced that we're ready?" Zuma asked.

Rubble grunted, "I wouldn't count on it. He never thinks we're ready for it."

Marshall walked up and woofed, "C'mon you guys, maybe it'll be different now. We did get the USB in this time."

Chase shook his head. "You know that's not the reason Ryder won't let us go yet."

The pack had been training for about three years now, under the ownership of their beloved owner, Ryder. Although the dogs had been taught different skills and responsibilities, they all played an important role in their team.

With all their abilities combined, they knew that here was nothing they couldn't handle. But Ryder still worried about their safety. "And besides," he had once told them, "there hasn't been much trouble in Adventure Bay for a while now."

And he was right. There was hardly any true crime that took place in Adventure Bay, as it was known to be a peaceful town. When someone did get in trouble for anything, it was usually for littering or violating public property, at the most.

The only record of crime the city had was 30 years ago, way before the dogs were even born. A gang who went by the name of "The Chaos" went on a rampage in the city, stealing from people and stealing their pets. Although nobody was killed, almost half the town had been injured.

The terrifying story still didn't change the pack's minds about wanting to fight crime and rescue people. It was what they trained for!

"I know! Let's beg him!" Skye suggested. "Like, literally beg."

Rubble shrugged and began to make his way out the door. "It may work for you, but I lost my cuteness years ago. And you know Bulldogs aren't supposed to be cute."

Chase rolled his eyes. "We get it Rubble, Bulldogs aren't meant to be attractive." Everyone laughed at this.

Rubble woofed defensively, "There's a difference between 'cute' and 'attractive'!"

The dogs made their way outside the room to find Ryder. They lived in a large old building, in which Ryder had fixed up to make it the perfect home. "The Lookout", as they called it, was a factory type of place, and the elevator led to the tallest part of the place: a lookout.

The pack soon found Ryder, who was in the Lobby. He was on the playing a video game on his Game Dude handheld. Next to him was a female human, Katie. She also happened to be part of the team.

Katie was brushing a much less enthusiastic member, a Maine Coon cat by the name of Cali. Cali hissed as the dogs neared her, catching her owner's attention.

"Stop it Cali," Katie scolded her. The blonde-haired teen shooed Cali off her lap. "Go socialize with the dogs for a bit." She then elbowed her friend beside her. "Ryder, the pack looks like they want to tell us something!"

A loud bleep sounded from Ryder's handheld, a sign that he died in whatever game he was playing. "Aw come on, Katie! I was going to beat my highscore."

While the two teenagers bickered for a bit, Cali taunted the dogs. "So, how did the training go?" she sneered. "Did you beat the aliens yet?"

Rocky retorted, "They're robots, not aliens." In a more embarrassed tone he added, "And, no, we didn't beat them. But we got the download to 99 percent!"

Cali snickered. "Let me guess, it 'malfunctioned' again. Or the robots destroyed it when you weren't looking."

"Actually, Marshall totally messed up the process dudette," Zuma explained.

"Only on accident!" Marshall protested.

Cali walked next to the Dalmatian and wiggled her tail in front of his nose. "Oh Marshall, you always have been a klutz," she teased, but with no hostility in her voice. Marshall was the only dog the prissy cat actually liked.

And though she was fine with calling Marshall by his real name, she had created one-of-a-kind nicknames for the others. Although all were insulting, the dogs had learned to deal with it; Cali was still an important addition to the team, even if she was a snarky pussycat.

Chase turned to face Cali, sneezing a few moments after doing so. "I still wonder why you never do training with us."

"Yeah, then maybe you'd see how hard it is!" Rubble said, growling at the now cowering Maine Coon cat.

Cali hissed and leapt on a chair nearby. "Watch it, Chubby!" Cali spat, using her harsh nickname for Rubble. "Remember that I haven't been declawed…" While flexing her claws, she said to Chase, "You, of all animals Sneezy, should understand why I don't train with with the likes of you." She stretched out the last word while carrying her narrow gaze across the pack.

Rocky rolled his eyes and whispered to Zuma, "Cats overreact to everything." The chocolate Lab nodded and chuckled a bit.

Apparently Cali heard that, because she huffed and turned her tail at them, jumping ever-so-neatly next to Katie.

Finally Ryder was able to address the dogs (after Katie took away his Game Dude). "Hello dogs" he greeted. "Status report."

The dogs lined up in a straight line in a specific order, from left to right: Marshall, Zuma, Rubble, Chase, Rocky, and Skye.

"Yes sir, Ryder sir!" Chase barked rather loudly. Rocky rubbed at his ears for a quick moment.

The dogs were able to communicate with humans because of a special chip programmed into their dog tags. Cali had one too, but she preferred to keep her collar off (especially when she was insulting the pack).

"We were able to get our weapons on time, since Zuma wasn't joking around on his driving duty this time." Zuma glanced at Chase, more irritated than embarrassed to be called out like that.

Chase continued, "Everyone did their job well, although Marshall was absent for most of the mission…"

Marshall chuckled nervously as he stated, "Um, I was in the doggy's room-"

"In the simulator?" Skye questioned. "How did you make that happen?"

"It might not had just been in the simulator…"

Zuma scooted an inch away from the embarrassed Dalmatian.

Chase cleared his throat. "Anyways… we had the download at 99 percent-"

"A new record!" Rocky interrupted.

"Yeah, with barely any mistakes!" Skye chimed in.

"Great job dogs!" Ryder congratulated them. Katie also gave her congrats, while Cali sighed and rolled her eyes.

Chase was somewhat annoyed for being cut off, but he was happy that Ryder was impressed. "Status report finished."

Rubble elbowed him softly, trying to remind Chase of what they had wanted to tell Ryder earlier. "Oh, um, and there's one more thing, Ryder sir."

"And what's that Chase?" Ryder asked.

Chase hesitated for a moment, then said, "Ryder, with all due respect, I would like to speak on behalf on the pack-"

"Too many words," Rubble woofed. "We want to be put on a real mission!" The Bulldog turned to Chase and grunted, "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Chase groaned. "I was trying to sound authority-like."

"If 'authority' means 'boring', then you got that down so far!" All the other dogs laughed.

Ryder chuckled a bit too, and then said, "You all did very well on your training today…"

The dogs leaned forward, waiting for his answer.

"But I still don't think it's time."

They all groaned, and Marshall dramatically flopped on his back, waving his paws in the air. "Why noooot?" he whined like a pup, though he was only pretending.

Ryder came up to the line and petted Marshall on the head. "You guys know that Adventure Bay is perfectly safe right now. There hasn't been any trouble a long time now.

"But dude, why train if we never get any action?" Zuma complained.

Ryder answered, "Just in case trouble does happen. The Bay may have firefighters and police, but it wouldn't be enough if something big came in town."

"But it'll never happen," Rocky muttered quietly.

"Ryder's right, you know," Katie commented. "So what if there's no crime in Adventure Bay? That leaves extra time for fun!"

The dogs brightened up, seeing that Katie had a good point. "We're going to the park later, so how about you all relax in your rooms for now?" Then Katie pulled out a bag of treats, ready to toss them at the excited dogs.

Six multi-colored treats flew through the air. Tails wagging, they all snatched up the treat closest to them.

Except for Marshall, whose catch was interrupted by Cali. She jumped over his head and at the treat, earning a yelp of surprise from the Dalmatian. He somehow fell and rolled backwards two times, crashing into a bucket nearby.

They all winced, and wondered if Marshall was OK. It looked like he hit his head pretty hard.

But seconds afterwards, he groaned and raised his head, the bucket still on it. "I'm good… and it's a good thing I have a hard head!" Everyone laughed as Katie tossed another treat at Marshall's feet.

"Well, I'm going to play Blockcraft," Rocky said, heading towards the elevator. "Anyone care to join me?"

"I'm up for a game, dude," Zuma woofed, joining his grey friend.

Marshall ran up to them barking, "Hey guys, wait for me!" The two dogs dived out of the way as Marshall crashed in the elevator. "I'm good!" he called.

Rubble scratched his ear with a hind leg. "Eh, I think I'll watch the football game today." Chase nodded and said, "Bet you the Pawsers are going to win against the Steam."

Rubble grunted, "Heh, you wish!" They followed the others in the elevator, and Rocky pushed his paw on a key that would take them to the second floor.

Cali strutted past Skye and snickered, "Stinks being the only female of your kind, doesn't it?"

Skye shrugged. "Actually, that's a good thing... that way they can't interrupt my cat chasing session!"

"Cat cha- oh dear."


A/N: I should clear up a few things-

The pups are teenage dogs in this, ranging from 2 to 3 years of age in human years (and I know that messes up the timeline, but let's say that Ryder got his first dog, Chase, at 13, which makes Ryder 16 in the story).

This is the team roles in the story:

Chase: Leader

Rubble: Weapons Expert

Skye: Acrobats Specialist

Zuma: Mechanic

Marshall: Navigator

Rocky: Technology Expert

Ryder: Mission/Training Director

Katie: Medic

That's all for now!