The pups gulped as the Air Patroller landed in the underwater headquarters.
"You know what to do," Ryder instructed. "Your vehicles have all your gears from every HQ. Let's go."
The pups headed to their vehicles. Chase's seemed to be the most important and the coolest one, and all the pups stared in awe at the motorcycle.
"Yes, Chase's will be with most gear because—well, he's getting attacked, he's gonna be killed, not you guys," said Ryder, seeing the pups looking. "But we can't afford to lose any more time; hurry now! Oh, and the vehicles can turn invisible, well, not invisible, but you just have to say your favourite colour to activate it, and then say it again to inactivate it."
The pups drove to the castle. On the way, they met Everest, Tracker, and Rex most abruptly on a cross road. They laughed merrily as they saw each other in disbelief and relief, their hearts getting lighter and lighter. Ryder explained the mission to the three pups, which ended in gasps and blue, brown, and hazel eyes staring at Chase and Ryder.
"Yes, I know," muttered Chase, irked. "Now, can we please stop drawing attention to myself?" The citizens of Barkingburg were staring at the PAW Patrol, and seeing Everest, Tracker and Rex stare at Chase, they were now staring at Chase mostly.
"Alright," said Rex apologetically, looking over to the citizens and giving them indignant looks. Some of them still stared, because—
"Wocky, why awe you stawing at Chase?" asked Zuma quietly, so Chase would not hear.
"Er—I'm just studying his motorcycle," Rocky answered, trying to sound casual.
Zuma nodded. "Yeah, it's pwetty cool." He turned his attention to the road, and Rocky stopped staring, doing likewise. They soon arrived at the castle. The princess and the Earl greeted them hastily, the Princess looking close to tears, the Earl looking worried and glancing at Chase often.
"We heard, Ryder. Axton stole Sweetie. And he's after—after Chase," the Earl said, ushering them inside.
"Yes, I know that pretty well now," said Chase, irritated.
The Earl nodded, looking scared. "We heard Axton is still near Barkingburg."
"Oh, please find Sweetie," pleaded the Princess. "Yes, she's bad—I'm terribly sorry she tried to frame you, Chase, she has a thirst for the crown—but this time she is kidnapped, not acting of her own accord."
"We will find her," Chase assured, smiling now. "Please do not fret. We need to start looking for clues, we aren't entirely sure Ax is the culprit. It could have been a forgery or something. Princess, do you know where Sweetie was when she got pupnapped?"
"No, you know Sweetie, wandering around all the time."
"Okay then. Ryder, split us in teams."
"That sounds good. Then I'll go with Chase, Rocky, Marshall, Zuma, and Rex, the other team will be the rest of you. My team will go to the western side of the castle, and Skye's will go to the eastern. Got that?" Ryder said.
"Got it!" everypup said, nodding.
Ryder turned to the princess. "I would be honoured if you kept track of Skye's team. Will you, please, your Majesty?"
"Oh—yes, yes. I'll go with Skye's group."
"Be careful, Princess," called the Earl. "Here, this is a map of the secret passages and traps in the Eastern side, and the corridors." He handed a piece of yellowed paper to the girl. Then he handed one of the Western ones to Ryder. "Careful, now."
"No need to worry, Earl," said Ryder, smiling. "We'll be fine."
"Yes, we can handle it, your Earlness," assured Marshall, smiling.
"Promise," added Rubble. "We'll capture the culprit and get Sweetie for you quickly."
"If it lasts more than a day, we have rooms reserved for you," the Earl said. "Please do come bock at 7, you'll need your dinner's worth. Can't search with an empty stomach!"
"Yes, we cannot," agreed Ryder and Rubble at the same time. They all giggled, despite the shower of scariness and gloom that was poring into them. The pups and humans split up, each going east and west.
Ryder, Chase, Marshall, Rocky, Zuma, and Rex all trotted silently along a wall lined up with portraits of the many kings and queens who had ruled for and in Barkingburg.
"Whewe do we stawt looking?" asked Zuma, breaking the silence.
"I'll use my heat sensor to find paw prints, and I'm finding her scent right now," Chase answered. "And Axton's too, I remember his favourite soap is Softas Max, that's the name—we use it with Ryder, and I'm pretty sure I remember the scent. As long as we don't get lost and get back to our spots."
Rex lit up. "Hey, oh yeah! Ryder said there are fifty red flags in each pup-pack! I'll put one at the end of the corridor. Then we won't get lost."
"Great idea," said Ryder. "I'll call the others for the idea." He called and gave them the tip. Rex beamed, and before they reached the end of the corridor, he planted a little red flag on the floor.
"Yes, great idea," murmured Chase, meaning it, though he seemed to be too transfixed in his search to look up. Rocky wished he had thought of it instead of Rex.
They turned left, and this corridor was empty except for a light on the ceiling. They walked cautiously along it, while Ryder checked the map and Chase continued to sniff for Sweetie's and Ax's scents. "Nothing here," he muttered. They turned again, but not before Rex put a flag on the carpeted floor.
This corridor was different than the other two. The floor was not carpeted, but it was floored with polished maple wood and was dimly lit, a small lamp at the end showing them the way. The walls were empty except for a single stain of which looked like chocolate milk. Chase continued with his search, finding nothing except for another small stain of chocolate milk on the lamp.
"Chocolate milk," murmured Chase, looking up for the first time. "Does it mean Ax-or the kidnapper, anyway, could have poisoned Sweetie or something?"
The pups and Ryder agreed.
"It could be," muttered Rocky. "Should we call the others to tell them?" he added brightly, hoping that his idea would suffice.
"No, I don't think we should," said Chase. "We should tell them when we return, someone could be spying right now, their collars might have been stolen or something. The risk is too high, Rocky."
They turned onto another corridor, this one also lined up with portraits. The pups and Ryder started to look for more clues.
"Nothing," Rex said, turning again.
"Of course there's nothing," growled Rocky under his breath, who had been tired of Rex talking all the time. He wanted to impress Chase a little too somehow.
They continued walking.
The Princess and the pups gasped as they stopped abruptly at the start of a corridor.
"What the..." Tracker stammered, his eyes unblinking as he stared at the dirty corridor, bustling with trash, dust, and what looked like random toys and fur.
"The culprit might have made a mess, looking for Sweetie," said the Princess, coughing slightly because of the dust. She cleared her throat quickly, afraid the pups had misinterpreted this and thought she was trying to hide a sob because of her temporary loss.
They seemed to have understood the real meaning behind the cough, as they all tried to brush dust away. "Ugh," muttered Rubble, sneezing. "I totally feel like Chase right now...ACHOO!"
"koff...True," muttered Everest.
"Let's...hurry out off here...we won't need to put a red-ACHOO!-flag, it'll be easy enough to-koff-remember we were here," coughed Skye, nudging away a chew toy. "Hey..isn't that..."
"Chase's!" cried out Rubble. "Let's pocket it. Princess, any traps soon?" he asked, as he picked it up and put it in the bag inside his pup-pack.
She shook her head. "Kinda. Only six more corridors to go, and then there's a cage, but to inactivate it we only need to say the Earls favourite animal, which is, of course, dogs."
"Us? Not the Royal Kitties, Elizabeth and Henry? I thought it would be cats," commented Skye, as they trudged on.
The pups and Ryder met up at the royal dining room.
"Anything?" asked Rubble, waiting impatiently for his ordered meal to come—five slices of bacon, two bowls of Puppy Pops kibble, and three chicken drumsticks complete with two pup treats.
"Chocolate milk, it might've been used to poison Sweetie," Rocky said, and looked over at Chase, who smiled gratefully at him because he did not want to say the story. He felt proud and was even more cheerful when he saw the butler approach them with his arms bursting with food.
"Anyway, thanks for finding my chew toy. It might be a clue," Chase murmured, and the grin on Rocky's face evaporated slightly. "Oooh, best steak I've ever seen," the Shepherd said happily, accepting the food. The butler smiled.
"Drink?" he asked.
"We'll ask for it later, I prefer my ginger ale cold," said Ryder, smiling.
"Very well. Enjoy your meal." The butler walked off elegantly.
The pups and Ryder dug in. Ryder's macaroni and cheese with beans was absolutely delicious, and the pups' kibble and meat was perfect.
"The Cook is great," said Skye, as she wiped her muzzle.
"My meatballs were awesome, the sauce was just the right balance," added Rex.
"The Princess smiled from between Skye and Marshall. "The Cook is actually one of my dearest friends from Princeton, a neighbouring kingdom. Her name is Cookie Patterson."
"Is that hew weal name?" asked Zuma, sounding surprised.
The Princess laughed. "Oh, no. I just call her that, she's a great chocolate-chip cookie baker. Her real name is Ann Patterson, and if you want, Ryder, I can have her give us some tomorrow."
"That would be great," said Ryder gratefully. "Thanks, Princess."
"Just don't mix it up with our food," Chase reminded him.
"True," laughed Ryder, as he took a large bite. "More broccoli, if you will. No, I don't need more peppers, I've had enough...thanks..."
The others smiled at each other as they finished off and headed to their assigned rooms to rest.