Author's Note: Hello fellow readers. I'm sorry for taking so long to update. I went through severe writer's block with this chapter while at the same time planning out the rest of the story. I will hopefully have this story finished before the new year though; there will probably be two more chapters after this one. Please, enjoy!

-liverskins13

Chapter 7: Finding the Soul Stone

PUPLANTIS, 2018

"Gosh, it sure has been a while since we've been here," said Sid.

"Yeah," said Arrby, "what is it now? Three years?"

"I believe so. When that Silverclaw guy took the Soul Stone."

"Let's hope that he does not show up this time. So, what year are we in?"

Sid looked at the time space GPS and read it aloud. "We are in the year 2018."

"Oh," said Arrby. "So we only went back four years."

"Do you hear that?" said Sid. He had his ear pressed up against the wall of his upgraded submarine. Arrby did the same thing, and both were able to make out the faint sound of singing.

I'm Sid! The pirate! Bold and tough!

Sailing the world and taking your stuff!

Whatever you have, I need it more!

I'm taking it from sea and shore!

Your toy truck and your rubber duck

Big TVs and all your treats!

A fun guitar, an RC car

A bouncy ball on and all! Harr Harr!

I'm Sid, the pirate, bold and tough!

Sailing the world and taking your stuff! Hah hah!

Arrby from 2022 looked at his 2022 partner, who was cringing at his singing voice.

"Geez," Sid said with a shiver, "I was quite the selfish individual."

"You don't say," said Arrby with an eye roll and a chuckle. Just then, they saw the PAW Patrol, that is, the PAW Patrol of 2018 with the Mer-pups. They were playing around with the Mer-pup pearl like it was a volleyball.

"Yo, isn't that German shepherd police pup life guard dude tracking our boat right now?" asked Sid. "I mean, our 2018 counterparts' boat?"

"Oh, yeah," said Arrby. "We better not end up on his radar, figuratively and literally." At last, the submarine arrived at Puplantis. Arrby got out, dressed in his deep sea diving gear, and opened the gate for the submarine. All of the magical lavender pearls lined the walls.

"Now we have to hurry before our counterparts get here with the PAW Patrol," said Sid.

"This is good," said Arrby from his submarine window. "Of course we'd end up here before our counterparts stole the clam from Puplantis."

"We just have to get in there, find the stone, and get out," said Sid. "How hard could it be?"

Sid piloted his submarine a safe distance from the PAW Patrol and activated the cloaking device to hide the submarine.

"Ryder, you are pure genius," he said under his breath. Suddenly, a giant dark shadow appeared in front of the submarine.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Arrby in a nervous voice.

"Well," said Sid. "That depends on what you think it is?"

"SHAARRRKKK!" Arrby yelled as he ran to the back of the submarine and tried to find a hiding spot. Sid remained in the driver's seat.

"This doesn't look like a shark," said Sid. "It looks like my decoy octopus."

"Oh," said Arrby, who was blushing with embarrassment. "Right, I knew that all along."

"Wait a minute," said Sid. "If that is our decoy octopus, then that means..."

"Means what?" asked Arrby. Just then, they heard a noise. They turned around to see 2018 Arrby tying the rope around the magic clam.

"Sid, do you see what I see?"

"What is it, Arrby?"

"Look over there, in that corner." Arrby pointed to a nearby corner. There, lodged in the sand, was none other than the orange Soul Stone.

"Aha!" said Sid. "The Soul Stone! Let's grab it before this place collapses on us." By this time, the Sid and Arrby of 2018 had taken off with the clam, the PAW Patrol and Mer-pups had evacuated the castle, and the castle itself began to crumple, bits of it collapsing.

"I will go get the stone," said Arrby. He activated his scuba gear and quickly darted towards the stone. He scooped it up in his paw and made a u-turn. As he was nearing the exit, a big piece of rock collapsed from the spire of the castle and came down...right on top of Arrby.

"AARRRRBBBBBYYYYYYY!" yelled Sid. He swam over to where the rock was. Once the dust settled, he saw that Arrby was pinned underneath the rock. "Are you all right?" Sid asked.

"I can't move," Arrby grunted. The rock had his lower half secured to the ocean floor. "And the rock destroyed my oxygen tank. I don't have much time."

"No!" said Sid, fighting back tears. "You will make it Arrby! I swear to you, you will make it!"

"Sid, take the stone, and get the heck out of here."

"No, not without you."

"You don't get that stone back to present day half of the population stays dead."

"But if I do, then you die too."

"Don't worry about me," Arrby gave Sid the Soul Stone and held his hand with his paw. "I'm gonna be okay," he said while crying.

"Thank you for everything," Sid sobbed.

"Thank you for everything as well," Arrby replied.

After a long embrace, Sid reluctantly took the stone and left. He refused to turn around as the center of the castle was struck down with more collapsing rocks. When he was sure he was a safe distance away from the crumpling castle, the PAW Patrol, the Mer-pups, and the 2018 counterparts, he activated his time-space GPS and returned to the present day.

THE LOOKOUT, PRESENT DAY

The time travelers all returned to the present day. They all looked around at each other with expressions of excitement on their faces.

"Did we do it?" asked Ricochet.

"Did this actually work?" asked Mr. Porter. It was then that they noticed someone was missing.

"Sid?" asked Ryder. No response. "Sid?!"

"Sid, where's Arrby?" asked Farmer Yumi. Sid remained silent. He was staring at the floor, fighting back tears, the Soul Stone in his right hand. The rest of the group did not need anything more to realize that Arrby did not survive the trip to Pup-lantis.

"Sid, I'm so sorry," said Rocky, who walked over to comfort the distraught pirate.

"It should have been me," Sid whispered.

"What?"

"I said that it should have been me!" Sid said. "I was supposed to retrieve the stone while the castle was collapsing. He sacrificed himself instead."

"We have the stones though," said Jake. "We can bring him back!"

"I don't know if that's how it works," said Ryder. "These stones can only undo their own actions."

The group let out a mournful sigh upon hearing that.

"But speaking of the stones," Ryder continued, "we should probably take care of business and get them back to their proper timelines."

"Who is going to snap their fingers though?" asked Chase. "You saw the effect using the stones had on Silverclaw. I don't know if we could survive it."

"I think I have an idea. Chase, Rocky, come with me to the second floor."