Chapter eleven: Night Ride
"Oh no!" Katie gasped.
"Oh, this is just terrible!" Mayor Goodway whined.
"Do you have any idea of where he could've gone?" Katie wondered on her side of the divided screen.
"Not a one.." Ryder admitted sadly. "That's why we were hoping maybe one of you might've seen him."
"Oh.. well I'm afraid I haven't." Mayor Goodway replied unfortunately.
"Me neither, Ryder." Katie sighed, regretting to say so. "But we'd be willing to come help you look, we could ask around."
"Thanks Katie, but-.. the PAW Patrol is better equipped to handle this. We'll let you know if we do need your help though."
"Ok, Ryder." Katie nodded. "And.. maybe let me know when you find him?"
"Sure thing.. Thanks anyway." Ryder smiled, then they all hung up together. "Ok pups, we're on our own from here. No one has seen Chase around so who knows where he's gone."
"Well why not the woods or Jake's mountain?" Marshall suggested flatly. "We know it's quiet out there and barely anyone is out there. If Chase wanted to be alone.. I'd think that'd be where he'd go."
"Good thinking, Marshall." Ryder beamed, pointing to him proudly. "We'll go there first.. then fan out and search."
"But it's soo dark out there." Skye realized. "How will we find our way around out there?"
"By leaving our paw patrol spotlight on to guide us back to the Lookout at the very least.. annd…" the boy took off for them to follow.
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"Using these collar lights that I've been working on." Ryder finished, taking up one of these lights and snapping it onto Skye's collar easily. "This'll give you pups a light that you can use to search for things in the dark.. when Chase's floodlight isn't available to us." Going down the line, he secured each light, so that they hung next to their pup-tags.
"Cool!" Zuma gushed, in his usually smooth tone.
"Just bark them on like you would your other gear." Ryder said.
"Ruff! Light!" The pups barked together, flashing them on in unison.
"Nice! Ryder, you always come up with the coolest stuff." Rocky smirked, earning a few giggles from the group, and the boy in particular.
"Heh heh, alright.. now let's go find Chase." He said finally, racing back out of his workshop and into the elevator.
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"Ah!" Another bout of rustling put him on edge once more, creeping around it, he took off in a blind sprint; hoping and praying that it would not follow him. Clenching his eyes closed as he ran the echoes of snapping leather and growls lingered; all ended by a sudden jolt forward. Falling forward onto his chest, his body fell flat soon afterwards and he sighed to recover himself from the rush. Rising slowly, he could feel the ache increase more, but the bleeding appeared lesser now; either because it had begun to dry along the original stream down his leg or had just begun to stop on its own. Hearing the distant moan again, he perked up and dove into a shadow, which fell away and he tumbled rather then slid. Eyes open again, they searched up as he lifted himself up off the ground once more.
"No wall?" Chase realized now. "Just a.. cave?" Wait.. this is the cave that me and Jake found and explored, when he got his foot stuck and I had to call the PAW Patrol to help me get him out. A howl sounded and he couldn't tell if it were coming from the cave's mouth or it's throat. Either way this sound, he decided, was merely the wind whistling through wherever it was coming from. Heaviness seemed to fall upon him in the moment with a heavy yawn.
Oh great, perfect timing as usual. A light groan and the pup edged into the soft darkness.
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"Ok, pups.." Ryder began slowly, the whole PAW Patrol on route to where the city fell away and the forest took over. "If we were a sad, upset German Shepherd pup,.. Where would we hide?"
"Probably in a cave somewhere." Skye mumbled dryly for the other pups to subtly hear.
"That might actually be good thinking, Skye." Ryder thought catching her comment anyway. "And I think we have a pup that can help us with that.."
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"Here's your hot cocoa, Everest!" Jake announced, entering the main room and pouring the warm chocolatey beverage into the teal colored bowl, fashioned with snowflakes.
"Thanks, Jake, smells great!" The husky bent down to drink when a flash at her neck drew her head back up again.
"Everest? Come in!"
"Hi Ryder! What's up?" Everest greeted brightly.
"Everest, Chase got upset and took off without us." Ryder told her sadly. "We think he might've come out here to the forest around Jake's Mountain to be alone, but there's been no sign or contact with him since then. We're looking now, but the darkness is making it difficult. And we think he may have found a cave to hide it. I need you and your mountain knowledge to help us figure out which one he might be hiding in."
"No problem. I'm sure I can help you find Chase. It shouldn't be that difficult. Do you have any idea what part of the mountain he was on? That might help us narrow down where he could be."
"We're not sure yet,.." the boy shook his head. "I'll send Skye out now. If we can find his truck we can meet there. I'm sending you our current location for you to keep on your radar. We'll meet up as soon as we can."
"Copy that Ryder, I'm on my way! Ice or snow I'm ready to go!" Then the husky turned back to Jake after ending her call.
"I'll.. keep it warm ya,.." Jake implied picking up the bowl. "For when you get back." Then winking at her, he headed back into the kitchen and Everest slipped through the doggy door into the night.
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"Skye, fly out ahead and see if you can find Chase's truck. Maybe that'll help us figure out where he might have gone.
"I saw tire treads begin as soon as he started on this path." Rocky recalled. "And the path ends not far from here. If Chase came this way.. he can't have gone too far."
"Hoh,.. um.." the Cockapoo pilot whined, peering around anxiously. "Wait! Rocky's right! And look!.. Chase's truck! He is here.. but-.. I don't see Chase anywhere."
"It's ok, Skye." Ryder reasoned. "At least we know he was here. And may come back on his own, if we don't find him first. Show us the way."
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Tires crunched the earth beneath it and the caterpillar tracks of the teal and white snowcat halted their movement.
"Glad you could make it, Everest." Ryder beamed as the husky hopped forward down of her rig toward them, still perched on their own.
"I'd never miss out on something this important, especially with Chase missing and upset,.. and probably scared by now. Luckily I know a few caves we can try that are around here. But we should be able to figure out which one by tracking him."
"Good plan." Ryder agreed. "Skye, keep a look out!"
"You got it, Ryder." The pilot pup replied, taking to the air once again.
"The rest of you pups can fan out from here and search, in case Chase isn't hiding. But don't wander too far without knowing how to get back. We don't want anyone else to get lost out here."
"You got it!" The pups responded heading off in different directions.
"Lead the way, Everest." Ryder announced, pointing a flat hand horizontally forward; revving his ATV to life.
"Off the trail, Everest won't fail!" The husky barked, and their vehicles skidded forward into the trees.
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"This is as far as our vehicles and go, Ryder." Everest announced, halting her vehicle and hopping down off of it to land right in front of where it stood.
"Ok, then we hike from here." Ryder decided, taking off his helmet and starting off after the mountain pup. The husky's nose touched the ground and a scent appeared to her, writing unseen prints in the direction the scent led; egging her to continue on.
"This scent is familiar.." Everest commentated thoughtfully, lifting her head slightly before lowering it to sniff some more. "It might lead us straight to him!"
"Right behind you, Everest. Let's keep going!" Ryder confirmed, jogging onward.
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Everest's shiny black nose searched until the trail dropped off completely,.. quite literally.
"Weird.. the trail just ends here, Ryder." The pup said, pointing to the spot in which she stood.
"Well Chase couldn't have just disappeared.." Ryder reasoned, shielding his eyes to search more thoroughly; when a recollection brought up a thought that almost scared him.
"Could he?" Peering down over the edge his eyes squinted in the darkness that lay below.
"Hey wait!.. is that.. fallen rocks! Chase was definitely here." Ryder decided now. "And somehow he managed to get all the way down there from way up here?"
"That's a pretty big drop.. I hope he's ok. There's no way he could've gotten out of that without a scratch.." Everest reasoned. And to that Ryder reached for his pup-pad.
"Pups, we think Chase may have fallen off the side of the cliff and he may be hurt.. so we need to try extra hard in finding him in case that's true so we can help him as soon as we can. Marshall, I need you to go back to the Lookout to get your medical gear just to be sure we can assess and treat him immediately."
"You got it, Ryder!" The Dalmatian's voice came back.
"There's a quick way to get down there." Everest vocalized turning to Ryder once more. "Come on!" Then taking off again, she led him off on another path down the right side of the ridge.
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Oh man not again! Marshall thought tearing back over to his fire truck and diving into it. We've already had his struggles with being hurt.. and now he may have to go through it again?! When will it end! Lights and sirens blaring, his tires squealed and he was off and running again.
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"Here it is!" Everest barked, screeching to a stop at the base of the ridge where the rubble lay scattered. Ryder scanned the area with a flashlight in hand, while Everest sniffed about some more. The boy knelt down to the rocks as if hoping to see something in them to give any indicator of what they were desiring to know.
"Hey look at this!" Everest cried, causing the boy to look up and rise to join her a short distance away. Shining the light onto a spot on the ground, the red hue of it jumped out at them; waving flags of the same color in their minds as they exchanged a look and tread after the spotty trail left in their midst.
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"He's gotta be here somewhere!" Everest panted. "Wait! *sniff, sniff* his scent is getting stronger! We've gotta be getting close!"
"Then let's keep going!" Ryder decided, racing on after the husky. The forest finally opened up and another ridge rose up to meet them.
"Of course Chase would come up here.. he was probably trying to get back up the ridge to where he started." Everest guessed, turning to Ryder with a steadily wagging tail.
"You're probably right." The boy concurred, nodding. "So where to next?" The husky sniffed around for another brief moment.
"Into that cave." Everest reported, pointing a paw down the dark hole in the wall.
"Then let's go." Ryder decided. The boy hadn't made it very far in when Everest hopped forward to follow; but stopped short once more due to a rising feeling that put her ears on alert.
"Ryder, wait!" The husky called, earning her his attention. "Do you hear that?" The boy stood still, facing her, to listen; when something dropped at his feet.
"Rocks?" Ryder vocalized quizzically.
"Oh no.. Ryder, look out!" Everest's warning call was in vain, as more rocks fell blocking his path of escape and soon a cloud was stirred up to cause them both to cough. A couple more coughs and Everest carefully peeled her eyes open.
"Ryder? Are you ok?.. Ryder?" She called, hoping to hear his voice return from the pile of rubble that now stood in her way.
Hey guys, here's the next chapter! Just another twist to add to an already complex storyline. Hope you find it intriguing and are excited that much more for what comes next. Enjoy! Thx!