Chapter fourteen: Adjustments
"Hm." Rocky studied the piece of machinery and the loose parts around it carefully. Poking and prodding them with his paws, he thought some more with another 'hm'. "So what is this supposed to be again?" He asked, glancing up at Ryder.
"Its a device I've been working on. It's called a pup-pack. Like what Chase has on." Ryder told him, gesturing to the pack on Chase's back.
"Hm. Well let's see. Got any recyclables anywhere?"
"I have a box right here." Ryder said, stepping aside and gesturing to a box that had been hidden behind him this whole time.
"Cool!" The grey pup bounded over to it and didn't hesitate for a moment in digging into it, to see what was inside. "Ok.." the pup sighed, pulling a couple things out and dropping them at his feet. "I think I've got it." He picked up an old grabber arm and raced back over to the device. He set the arm down next to it and cocked his head. "I don't have any tools to do this." He stated openly, after a moment.
"No problem, I've got plenty." Ryder smiled pointing a thumb over his shoulder. He then turned and headed toward the garage, Rocky quickly hurried after him. As the grey mixed breed went by, Chase shot the other pups a pleasureful smile before following them too.
"Ok. We can use the grabber on this grabbing stick, and this spray bottle cap to hold a screw driver on the other side." Rocky pulled the robotic arms out, and began attaching the pieces in which he spoke of. "Hm, this screw needs tightening.." the pup noted. He picked up the screwdriver next to him with his teeth, and proceeded to tighten it himself with both paws holding the pup-pack steady. He strode around to, what would be, the back of the pup-pack, and opened the rectangular-shaped hatch to expose the inner computer system within it. "Ok, now we just make a couple adjustments..." he turned a few screws using the screwdriver still in his mouth and nudged a couple wires. He, then, closed the hatch, and the arms folded into the hatches on the sides of the pup-pack. "That should do it." Rocky's finished looking up at Ryder.
"Great! Wanna test it out?" Ryder picked up the pack and proceeded to put it on the pup.
"Uhhmm... ok." The pup shrugged hesitantly. "So.. what do I do exactly?"
"Bark out any tool you want." Ryder instructed.
"Ok, um. Ruff! Screwdriver?" At his command, the screwdriver retracted out for use.
"Give it a go." Ryder said, setting a board up with a hole in it. He placed a screw in it and Rocky brought the screwdriver closer.
"Ruff! Screw!" The tool drove the screw into the hole in seconds. "Cool!" Rocky squeaked. "Ruff! Drill!" The pup found himself enjoying this more and more. Chase could see his hesitation melt away into pure pleasure and joy. The mixed breed drilled a couple more holes. "Ruff! Pincer arm!" The arm craned down and picked up the remaining screws and he screwed them in place retracting all the tools away. "That was, actually kinda fun!" The grey pup gushed excitedly.
"It's yours if you want." Ryder said, quite matter-of-factly.
"Really?!" The pup gasped, looking at him in surprise.
"We could really use a pup like you on our team..." Ryder explained simply. "If you want to."
"You mean I'll be able to fix things?" Rocky asked hopefully.
"All the time." Ryder grinned. "What'do ya say?"
"Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!" The grey pup leapt into Ryder's arms to lick his face. Chase hopped forward off his haunches, to crouch down proudly. Marshall and Skye just cheered happily, the Cockapoo unable to stop herself from doing a backflip.
"Welcome to the team, Rocky." Ryder declared, as the other pups howled triumphantly.
"Thanks Ryder." The pup smiled. "But you're sure everyone will like me? I hvanent had a good experience with helping people."
"Don't worry, Rocky." Ryder encouraged, kneeling down next to the pup to place and hand on his head. "I know Adventure Bay will love you. You'll see."
"Well-.. in that case..." Rocky began hesitantly. "Once we paint my new pup-pack a different color, it'll be perfect! And I'm sure I can make a few more adjustments to make it even better!"
"No problem." Ryder grinned. "Marshall, let's use you paint cannons to paint Rocky's pup-pack.
"Noo problem!" The Dalmatian bowled racing off after Ryder; followed by the rest of their howling friends...
"After that, Ryder had me take the PAW Patrol Oath." Rocky explained, as the story ended. "And I got my new pup-tag." He looked down at the recycling symbol hanging from his collar proudly.
"The PAW Patrol became even bigger after that." Ryder stated. "But Zuma had a bit of a rocky start when he joined." The pups laughed at the pun, as Ryder began the story...
"Gather 'round pups! I've got something to show ya." Ryder called, as he exited the Lookout. All four pups looked up from their game of tag to their leader and quickly bounded over to him. Chase came and sat proudly before him. The German Shepard looked at his friends and cleared his throat expectantly. The pups rolled their eyes humorously and lined up with him, remember his desire for order.
"What's up, Ryder sir?" Chase declared formally.
"Well, I have someone I want you to meet." Ryder grinned. He turned to the door to wave them over. The automatic doors slid aside to give way to a young Chocolate Lab pup standing there. It strode forward to sit next to Ryder respectfully; gazing up at him politely.
"Pups..." Ryder said. "This is Zuma. And he'll be joining our team as our water rescue pup."
"Cool!" Rocky squeaked.
"Nice to meet you!" Skye gushed.
"Yay!!" Marshall cheered.
"Welcome to the team, Zuma." Chase told him in a stately manner.
"Thanks, dude." The Chocolate Lab smiled. Chase took on a confused look; taken aback by this reaction. "I can't wait to get stawrted on watewr wrescues. It's gonna be totally awesome!" Chase held his confused gaze.
"Um.. yeah,.. uh.. cool." The German Shepard half mumbled to himself.
"What's wrong, Chase?" Marshall asked, finally picking up on his friend's confusion.
"I didn't know he was gonna talk like that." Chase whispered, covering it with a paw to his mouth.
"Don't worry." Marshall smiled. "You'll get used to it."
"Yeah,.. maybe." Chase replied, dropping his gaze hesitantly.
"So where are you from?" Skye asked, the new pup.
"The hawrbowr, not hewre though. I was playing awround the docks back whewre I came fwrom and I fell into a cwrate of fish that was loaded onto a ship that bwrought me hewre." The Lab replied. "Had nothing bettewr to do so I went along fowr wride. Then I found Wryder."
"More like I found you." Ryder emphasized, with a grin.
"Well, ok yeah, he found me." The Lab admitted, earning him a chuckle from the group.
"Ok pups... introduce yourselves. So Zuma can start to get to know you pups." Ryder suggested.
"Ok." The pups responded. The aviator pup stepped forward first.
"My name is Skye." The Cockapoo smiled.
"Hi! I'm Rocky." The grey mixed breed put in, also stepping forward.
"Chase. Nice to meet you." Chase formally introduced himself the same way he usually did with meeting new people.
"Cool! Nice to meet you, dude. I bet you do a lot of way cool stuff as a shewriff pup." Zuma gushed in a bubbly manner. Chase developed a quizzical look.
"Um... I'm a police pup." Chase corrected, an odd perplexity in his tone.
"Oh, sowrry." Zuma shrugged. "Cool." Chase stepped forward again, his face still confused; when a little white wall cut him off.
"Don't mind him." The friendly fire pup said. "I'm Marshall." The Dalmatian extended a paw, to which Zuma took with a firm shake.
"Well now that we have all intwroduced ouwrselves." Zuma stated finally. "I've got something I wanna show you pups, come on!" The Chocolate Lab took off for the Lookout. Chase strode forward and stopped hesitantly, as the other pups bounded after him into the door.
"Something wrong, Chase?" Ryder asked, stepping up next to his lone pup.
"Um... I guess not." Chase decided after a pause. Then he headed in, with Ryder right behind him.
XXXX
Zuma dropped a mat onto the floor.
"Ok, pups." He said turning to face everyone. "This.. is Pup Pup Boogie." Marshall, Rocky, and Skye marveled at the display on the screen. Zuma hopped onto the mat and glanced back at them, as Chase and Ryder strode up closer. "Ok hewre's how you play." Zuma began. "You just follow the movements on the scwreen." The icons on the big screen flashed in a specific pattern, and Zuma repeated them on the mat. Eventually be worked himself up to a decently fast pace. He finished the level and the music ended.
"Woah!!" The three other pups marveled.
"So.. who wants to twry it?" Zuma asked, not having to wait long for three eager volunteers. Zuma slowly started Skye on the first level.
"You wready?" Zuma asked, looking over as her on the second mat.
"You bet!" Skye smiled. The Lab looked back toward the other pups.
"I don't have enough mats fowr us all to play togethewr, but you can definitely leawrn the moves while each of us plays." He told them.
"Don't worry." Rocky told him, bounding off for a second. "I got an idea." He finished, rolling a few black rolls of material toward them. Dragging them out sit next to one another, he rolled them out flat. "I can use these sheets of rubber as practice mats." The mixed breed said. "All I need is.. Ruff! Chalk!" One of his pup-pack arms retracted out with a holster holding a piece of chalk, and he marked down the six squares of the mats. And dragged them up next to the others'.
"You coming, Chase?" The grey pup asked, peeking over his shoulder at the German Shepard still sitting next to Ryder.
"Uuahhh, you go ahead." Chase shrugged, motioning a paw at them. "I'll just watch."
"Um, ok." Rocky shrugged, a bit surprised by this, but shrugged it off as Chase being Chase.
"Ok Skye. Let's boogie!!" Zuma barked, beginning the game with a howl. Marshall, Rocky, and Skye didn't hesitate to join him, as they began this new game.
Hey guys, here's the next chapter!! I almost didn't get it done in time, kinda falling behind again. ;D But hopefully now I can get ahead before next week, and finish it up with a few more chapters. Can't wait to hear you thoughts!! Thx!!!