The next morning...

Cherry woke up and looked out her window and ran to her parents' room in excitement. "Wake up, it's Christmas Eve!"

"Morning, Cher Bear." Bud yawned.

"Hi, Daddy." Cherry replied.

Michelle groaned and rubbed her eyes as she then woke up.

"Morning, honey." Bud smiled.

"It's Christmas Eve." Cherry said.

"We know..." Michelle patted her on the head.

"I wonder how everyone else is celebrating this day." Cherry smiled.

"I still dont' know whether to be happy or horrified of our daughter." Bud whispered to Michelle about Cherry's happiness.

"Well, at least she's not like The Joker." Michelle said.

"Oh, Shell, Cherry scares me enough already!" Bud replied.

Michelle couldn't help but giggle at her husband's overreaction.

"But you're right." Bud said.

"Of course I'm right." Michelle smirked.


Soon enough, the dalmatians and Santa Pups woke up after their big day yesterday looking for Puppy Paws and where they all met up in the Buddies' usual spot and where they were surprised as they saw Budderball coming to the spot with Eddy.

"Where's Budderball?" Domino wondered.

"That dog ain't ever on time!" B-Dawg scoffed.

"Being fashionably late is one thing, but this is way out of style." Rosebud added.

They were soon surprised to see Budderball with Eddy.

"Dude, am I hallucinating or is Budderball running with an elf?" MudBud asked.

"No, I see him too." Domino replied.

"Eddy!" The Santa Pups smiled.

"Oh, thank goodness you are all okay," Eddy was relieved about the Santa Pups. He then soon counted the Santa Pups to see if they were all there. "Your brother..." he then whispered in worry. "Is he running late?"

"I'm afraid he was taken away, sir..." Oddball pouted.

"Yeah, by Cruge, the most heartless dog-catcher of them all." Domino said.

"We're really sorry." Oddball pouted.

"Well, at least he's still alive..." Eddy sighed.

"I see his car coming." Patch said.

"Cruge!" The puppies panicked.

"Quick, everyone hide." Oddball said.

The dogs all rushed together to hide away from the nefarious dog-catcher. Cruge's car was driving by as the dogs hid away together and where the dogs soon saw where the vehicle was going and decided to follow it.

"This way, dogs!" B-Dawg said as he took the lead with Patch.

Noble soon ran ahead with Patch and B-Dawg.

"Follow Uncle Patch!" Oddball said as she looked up to him the most.

"B-Dawg sure looks great today." Hope smiled as if she was in love.

"I guess so..." Domino shrugged.

"Don't you think?" Hope sighed.

"Ew, you like him..." Jingle noticed.

"So? You like Buddha." Hope said to Jingle.

"I like Budderball." Oddball admitted shamelessly.

"I like MudBud." Charity also admitted.

Patch chuckled as love seemed to be in the air for all of the puppies. Well, almost for all of the puppies.


Dot was walking with Lucky down the street and they spotted Eli as he was coming to the pretend sleigh with reindeer. "Hey, Mister, whatcha doin'?" she asked since this man seemed harmless and not a dangerous stranger.

"Oh, hey, little girl," Eli greeted. "I'm trying to see if I can make this sleigh fly so I can get back to the North Pole and save Christmas."

"Sorry, sir, but this is a pretend sleigh and reindeer, it can't fly." Dot told him.

Lucky wanted to speak up in agreement, but he just nodded as if he spoke with Puppy Power, that would be too suspicious.

"Oh... Thanks anyway, you're a bright little girl." Eli replied.

"My mommy says I'm a clever clogs." Dot smiled proudly.

Lucky soon saw Eli's crystal and started sniffing it.

"Whoa! Hey, there, boy." Eli smiled.

"Lucky, get down..." Dot whispered nervously.

"Ah, I see he's curious about my crystal." Eli smiled.

Lucky smiled back.

"Nice tag..." Eli looked to Lucky's collar. "Are you one of those Pound Puppies?"

Lucky breathed in relief.

"Lucky, speak." Dot then allowed.

"You betcha." Lucky smiled to the elf.

"I thought I recognized that tag from somewhere." Eli smiled back.

Lucky smiled back proudly.

"So, are you really a North Pole elf?" Dot asked.

"Well, I'd expect a child to believe me, but yes," Eli replied. "I'm afraid Puppy Paws and the other Santa Pups are around here somewhere, but they need to come home for Christmas."

"Why aren't they at the North Pole?" Lucky asked.

"I think Puppy Paws probably ran away and the others went with him," Eli replied with a shrug. "Puppy Paws has had a bit of a blue Christmas so far... Christmas Spirit seems to be going down too. Without Christmas Spirit, I can't go back to the North Pole."

"That's terrible." Dot frowned.

"It really is..." Eli frowned back with a nod of his head.

"Then I think we know what we need to do to help." Lucky said.

"You do?" Dot smiled hopefully to her collie.

"Yep." Lucky nodded.

"And what's that?" Eli asked.

"Well, for finding Puppy Paws, I think Patch might be already on it, but as for the Christmas spirit that's easy, we sing." Lucky smiled.

"That's right..." Dot remembered. "'The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear'. That's what Buddy the Elf taught me in my favorite Christmas movie!"

"And where he was right, that is the way to spread Christmas cheer." Eli smiled.

"I just love that movie..." Dot beamed in memory. "I wish I could've met Buddy the Elf."

"Maybe someday, you will." Lucky said.

"Oh, but Lucky, he's only a movie character..." Dot replied.

Lucky chuckled. "You'd be surprised."

"Shall I sing now?" Dot asked before taking a deep breath and doing what they did in the movie. "You better watch out, You better not cry, You better not pout I'm telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town~-"

No one seemed to come over for that song as it wasn't inspirational enough.

"Try another song that has emotion in it." Lucky whispered to Dot.

"Aww..." Dot pouted. "That worked in the movie." She then began to think of a song with some emotion that would help.

Lucky sat by Dot as she stopped to think. A man who was dressed as an elf mistook Eli for an employee and told him to get back to work or else he would lose his job and uniform.

"Should we tell him that you aren't one of the employees that works here?" Dot whispered to Eli.

"Oh, but he's a fellow elf." Eli replied.

"I hate to say this, but he's actually one of the helpers that visits our town since Santa is busy making toys in the North Pole." Dot explained.

"Wow, you are a smart little girl." Eli had to admit.

"Yeah and you should know that guy isn't in the Christmas spirit." Lucky whispered to Eli.

"Really?" Eli replied.

"Yes..." Dot and Lucky nodded as they weren't very fond of the elf who seemed to hate his job.

"Then perhaps I can help get his Christmas spirit back." Eli said.

"You can try, but good luck." Lucky replied.

Dot nodded in agreement.

"I wonder how Patch is doing?" Lucky said.

"I'm sure he's all right, Lucky." Dot soothed.

"I hope so, I love that boy like my own son." Lucky replied.

"Aw!" Dot smiled.


Meanwhile with Patch and the pups...

They were standing in front of a small shelter.

"I-I don't think anyone's home," B-Dawg spoke up nervously. "Maybe we should come back another time, dawgs."

"Dudes, look!" MudBud pointed out. "There's a hole in the back!"

"We can get in through there." Patch said.

The dogs then went straight that way to get inside to save Puppy Paws. Oddball whimpered once she came up to the hole.

"It's okay, Oddball, I won't let anything happen to you." Budderball promised.

"Thanks, Budderball." Oddball smiled.

Budderball smiled back. Oddball then followed right behind Budderball and they made it into the shelter together with the others.

"Wait, one of us should keep a look-out." Patch said.

"Budderball, Oddball, you guys do it," Rosebud suggested. "Bark twice if Mr. Cruge returns."

"You got it." Oddball nodded.

"MudBud, B-Dawg, Buddha, Domino, Eddy, and I will find Puppy Paws," Rosebud then decided. "Santa Pups, since he's your brother, you can help us."

"We'll be happy to help." Noble smiled.

"All right, we're all set then." Rosebud nodded after the plan was set up.

"Looks that way." Domino nodded.

"Great!" Rosebud approved.

Patch, Eddy, and the pups soon started to look around for Puppy Paws. The Santa Pups kept a look out for their brother as Budderball and Oddball were alone together. It took a while until they found Puppy Paws.