Episode 8: Pups Save The Fall Festival! A New Addition!
Three years after Rubble joined…
Ages: Chase (7 years old), Marshall (6 years old), Skye (7 years old), Rocky (6 years old), Rubble (5 years old), Zuma (5 years old), Ben (18 years old), Ryder (17 years old)
Ever since Rubble had joined, the PAW Patrol had flourished and grown. Ben and Ryder were approaching adulthood, and the pups had grown into their roles as rescuers quite well. Ben had grown quite proud of all of them, and he cared for all of the pups greatly. He still had special connections with Rocky and Marshall, but to him, Ryder and the PAW Patrol were family now.
Sure, they would often spend their days separated, and scattered throughout Adventure Bay, but overall, they were a family. They ate together, slept in the Lookout tower, and they worked together to save the citizens of Adventure Bay when their help was needed. No one new had joined the PAW Patrol in those three years, though they did have some other vehicles.
Ryder and Ben had continued to draft up projects. There was a sea lookout tower, a plane for them to use in case they needed to fly somewhere, and upgrades to the pup packs. Aside from Marshall's EMT equipment, though, they hadn't added anything to the pup packs. Ben also worked on his very own rescue suit, of which he had gone through several iterations. Basing it off of other heroes in this world, or tokusatsu shows.
Earlier that September day, he had been working on a morpher. It would give him a protective suit that would allow him to assist with rescues. He'd been struggling to make it work, but he didn't want to ask Ryder for help.
Meanwhile, Marshall and Chase were helping Farmer Yumi harvest her crop. Chase leapt up to a low hanging branch on one of the apple trees and made it pull down so Yumi could reach it. "How about this?" Chase asked, his voice muffled by the branch he was biting down on. "
Thanks, Chase! Oh, these beauties are perfect! Just in time for the fall festival." Farmer Yumi remarked. She breathed on the apple she had just plucked and rubbed it on her overalls, shining it up. "My apples are as sweet as can be." The farmer proudly said.
Marshal pushed a bucket over to the two of them. "I love, love, love apples, Farmer Yumi!" Marshall exclaimed.
"Don't forget our pumpkins!" Yumi added.
"I love pumpkins too! Especially in pies!" Marshall chuckled, grinning at the farmer.
Chase walked off to another tree and looked at it. "I can't reach any more branches." Chase said, a little disappointed.
"I can reach those branches easy. Watch!" Marshall boasted, before taking off and leaping on some hay bales to reach a branch. "Got it!" Marshall grunted, biting down on the branch.
"Wait! Marshall, those are too-" Chase warned, but it was too late. The branch snapped back into its usual position, sending Marshall flying. "-sproingy…" Chase trailed off as he saw Marshall get thrown into the air.
Chase and Yumi followed Marshall to the barn, where they saw him bounce off of some hay bales, slide down Bettina, and land in pumpkins, where one landed on his head. "I'm okay!" Marshall yelled out.
"Marshall!" Chase shouted.
Farmer Yumi burst into laughter at the adorable sight of Marshall wearing a pumpkin for a hat. Then she saw Bettina, and got worried. "Oh no!" Yumi cried out.
"I'm sorry, I'll clean it all up!" The six year old dalmatian apologized.
The country girl shook her head in response. "No, no, Marshall. Pumpkin goop, that's something I can easily handle. It's the way Bettina's acting that is getting me worried." Yumi answered. Bettina mooed, and her tail was flapping around like crazy. "All that swishing and twitching means bad weather is coming. That won't be good for the apples, or the rest of the crops." Farmer Yumi continued.
Pulling out her phone, she brought up the forecast, and groaned. "Yup, snow's coming. Cows always know." Yumi sighed.
"There's a snowstorm coming? It's not even winter yet!" Chase gasped.
"Whatever fruit we don't pick today will freeze and be no good for the fair. Oh, peach fuzz!" Yumi told the pups, stamping her foot in frustration.
"Then we have to pick everything before the storm gets here." Marshall realized.
"That's a lot of picking!" Chase yelped.
"This is terrible! That'll take the three of us way too long!" Yumi exclaimed.
"Ryder and the PAW Patrol can help!" Chase suggested.
"Yeah! Let's go go go!" Marshall agreed.
The German shepherd and his spotted brother leapt over the fence, though Marshall got stuck on it. When they got to the lookout, Chase barked out for Ryder. "Ryder! Farmer Yumi needs our help!" Chase urgently said.
"What's up, pups?" Ryder inquired.
"Farmer Yumi needs our help! A snowstorm is blowing in." Chase began.
"She has to pick all of her fruits by tonight, or the Fall Festival will be ruined!" Marshall finished.
"Don't worry pups. No job is too big, no pup is too small!" Ryder declared, signaling the rest of the PAW Patrol.
"PAW Patrol, to the lookout!" Ryder instructed. The human got on the elevator with the two pups, since they were already there. As they arrived at the top of the lookout, Ben turned around in his chair, putting the transformation device he was fiddling with away.
"Wow, this is an unusual occurrence. Normally, all six of you arrive at once." Ben commented.
Less than ten minutes later, Skye, Rubble, Rocky, and Zuma rode the elevator up to the top of the tower. When they all were assembled, Chase barked, "Ready for action, Ryder, sir!" Ben looked at the screen with interest, wondering what they would be doing today.
Usually, Ben stayed in the Lookout with the other pups that were on standby during rescues. He liked to keep them company, and Ryder was the leader of the pups. Sometimes Ben would offer suggestions or ideas for the pups already on the scene, and his advice worked with varying degrees of success. "Thanks for hustling, pups. Farmer Yumi needs our help. A snowstorm is coming. If the orchard freezes, all the fruits on the trees will be ruined." Ryder stated, showing the animatic on the monitor.
"Wow! Farmer Yumi really needs our help." Ben mused.
"Yup! She's counting on all of us!" Marshall replied.
"Marshall, we need you and your ladder to reach the fruit in the higher branches." Ryder said.
"I'm fired up!" Marshall roared.
"Rubble's bucket loader will help get the fruit into the barn for storage extra quickly." Ryder continued.
"Rubble on the double!" The bulldog giggled.
"The rest of the PAW Patrol will help too! This job is big enough for everyone!" Ryder announced.
At this, Ben stood up. If no one was going to be at the lookout aside from him, then he saw no point in remaining here. Plus, this was a small job, no danger. He could help out. "All right, you heard Ryder! All paws and hands on deck! Let's applebuck like Applejack and the rest of the ponies during Applebucking Season! PAW Patrol, roll to the rescue!" Ben trumpeted.
He and Ryder slid down the pole and got on their vehicles, while the rest of the pups took the slide to outside the lookout. Skye activated her wings, since her helicopter wasn't going to be of much use and would simply take up space at the farm. Ben rode on his motorcycle, Ryder drove his ATV, Marshall on his fire truck, Rubble on his bulldozer, Chase in his police cruiser, Rocky in his recycling truck, and Zuma in his hovercraft.
"Ryder, Ben, and the PAW Patrol! Now we can get at least some of the fruit picked!" Yumi gratefully said.
"We'll get as much picked as we can, Miss Yumi." Ben promised.
"Yup! PAW Patrol is fast, fast, fast!" Marshall chuckled.
"All right. Skye and Zuma, you start with the pumpkins. Marshall, let's get this ladder to the tree. You and I are on picking patrol." Ryder said, giving out the assignments to the pups.
"Come on, Skye, let's dive in!" Zuma enthusiastically said, running off.
Marshall caught the apples that Ryder tossed down from the ladder and put them in the bucket, while Rocky used an old rain gutter to transport the apples. When Skye and Zuma started kicking the pumpkins, Marshall got caught up and rolled into the pile of fruits, causing a bit of a mess.
Ben was helping get some apples in the orchard on his own, so he didn't know about what was going on down there until he ran back and saw everything. "Oh no, the farm's a mess!" Rocky cried out.
Ben shook his head. Ryder was also not too happy, but he knew how to handle this situation. "Pups, this isn't how we get the job done." Ryder gently reminded the canines.
Zuma nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, we totally got in each other's way!" Zuma sadly said.
Ryder stroked his chin, before realizing how to have Chase put his skills to use. "Chase, I have a job for you!" Ryder announced.
"What is it, Ryder, sir?" Chase asked, standing at the ready.
"We need you to direct traffic around here." Ryder explained.
"Oh yeah! Chase would make a great traffic cop! Cause, well… he is a traffic cop!" Marshall barked.
Chase made his megaphone come out of his pup pack and helped direct all of the PAW Patrol. With his guidance, the PAW Patrol was able to work together like a well oiled machine. Within the next five hours, they had managed to harvest all of the crop and get it into the barn. They finished up rolling the pumpkins via having a contest just as the snow started to set in.
"That's the last of them!" Yumi proudly said as the barn was filled with apples and pumpkins. "That's it, pups! You did it!" Chase cheered.
"We all did it, Chase. And just in time. The snow's really coming down now." Ryder confirmed.
"Ryder, you and the pups saved the day! Now the Fall Festival is back on." Yumi thanked the group.
"Anytime, Farmer Yumi. Whenever you need us, just yelp for help!" Ryder promised. They all laughed, before Ben interrupted them. He heard the sound of someone eating, and walked over to a corner of the barn to see a white wolf pup, maybe one year old, eating one of the pumpkins. When Ben approached him, he turned around and crouched, whimpering in fear.
"Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." Ben soothingly told the cub.
"Careful Ben!" Chase yipped. Ben reached forward and picked the cub up.
"Awoo?" The cub blurted out, confused by the act of kindness.
"Let's get you to Katie's and see how you're doing." Ben comforted, keeping his voice calm and kind. He noticed several scars across the pup's body. "We need to get to Katie's. She can do a checkup on this pup. I don't think he'll make it if he's in the wild." Ben solemnly said.
Ben and Ryder walked to their ATVs, a bit ahead of the other pups. "Ben, what are you thinking? Wolves are kind of like dogs, and they can talk if trained to, but are you sure?" Ryder whispered.
"Positive. He needs help, and a family. His pack wasn't kind to him, and I doubt another pack will let him in with the scars he's got. I'll take full responsibility for this lil guy. I'm gonna call him Alex." Ben answered.
Pups Save The Fall Festival is one of my favorite early episodes. There's just a magic in it that I don't see in most of the other season one episodes. It's the first one where all six pups are working together to accomplish a single goal, showing the value of teamwork.
I also thought it would be the perfect opportunity to introduce the second OC of this story, Alex. By no means will this story be OC-centric. Ben and Alex will be the only OCs in the story for a very long time.