Chapter 5
It turned out it was a good thing Marshall discovered that both meteors had permanent effects on the pups, since they were not only to switch between walking on four legs and on two, but the fact that in case of emergency, they could also transform into their superhero selves, the Mighty Pups, when the scenario called for it. When the Dalmatian did it by accident during their tour of Station Square, though, he was still his regular self on all fours.
Upon reaching the house, and before they had gone in to play some board games, Ryder called all the pups aside and said to Sonic, "Uh, be right back; I have an emergency meeting to call here."
"Suit yourself," Sonic replied. "We'll be waiting." The hedgehog and his friends walked back inside, and Knuckles went to get himself a cup of grape-flavored sparkling water. "Mmmm; that's delicious," he said.
"What's the matter, Ryder?" Skye asked as the pups went into the backyard.
"Something bothering you?" Everest echoed.
"There is something I had forgotten to tell you pups," Ryder admitted, "but I'm doing this so that I don't attract attention. Sonic told me that this town has a problem with not being able to escape the media." Indeed, it seemed that when people least expected it, and when the people didn't want them there, the news media, SSTV News (with Scarlet Garcia) always popped up reporting what was happening. ("No wonder you're always running away to the mountains," Ryder had previously had to Sonic on one of their visits to Adventure Bay.)
"Go ahead, then," Tracker put in. "Adelántese entonces."
"Okay. When that second meteor we eventually had to get rid of hit Adventure Bay, it had an effect on the first meteor as well. As far as I know, it still has to stay in the Lookout; otherwise, you won't be able to use your superpowers. But you demonstrated that you can be Mighty Pups even without superpowers when we saved Adventure Bay from all three supervillains: Ladybird, Copycat, and Harold Humdinger. Well, you got your powers back, but you still proved it."
"I remember that day," Chase commented.
"So do I," said Rocky.
"Anyway," Ryder continued, "when the second meteor hit, it caused the first meteor to slowly break apart into multiple pieces, even though it still functions properly, and we saw proof of this when you all gathered around one small meteor shard and got your superpowers back. Because of this, I kept the biggest chunk in the Lookout, but I have other pieces safely stationed away in the PAW Patroller, the Air Patroller, the Sea Patroller, the Mighty Jet, the Moto HQ, and even our Mobile Pit Stop. Yet ever since the second meteor made you all switch between what you are on, the regular forms, and the anthro forms where you can walk on two legs, it seems you've been serving as the Mighty Pups more than ever, and so I felt I should take that into account, especially when you consider Dr. Eggman has targeted our fair city multiple times. I'm guessing this is why you can switch back and forth between your regular selves and your superhero identities."
"Will it work with the other things we be at times?" Marshall asked. "Ruff! Moto Pups!" Everybody waited for a moment, but nothing happened.
"Ruff! Sea Patrol!" Chase barked, but again, nothing happened.
"Nope, I guess not," Ryder replied. "It only works when you're the Mighty Pups, and you have to bark to make it happen."
"Thanks for the heads-up," Rubble spoke up. "I used to dream a lot about being a superhero, thanks to being such a big fan of Apollo the Super-Pup. Too bad it's all in reruns now, unless they're still making new episodes."
"That's true, dude," said Zuma. "We haven't seen any new episodes since the 'Apollo the Super-Pup Super Special.' But it's still fun to watch him save the day..."
"...his own special way!" all the pups cheered, finishing the catchphrase and making the super-pup pose that Apollo made in the aforementioned television program.
At that point, the pups ran inside, and began playing board games with Sonic and his friends. They also took note that the television channels that Station Square carried didn't include the one that usually broadcast "Apollo the Super-Pup," so the pups settled for seeing Lindsay in the movie of the week, which still had a superhero theme to it. However, she wasn't the main protagonist in the movie, but instead the deuteragonist. (In literature, the deuteragonist is the second most important person in a story or narrative, after the protagonist and before the triagonist, or the third most important.)
The next day started out like normal, but ended up being a day of publicity, since SSTV News wanted to do an interview with the PAW Patrol (as the Mighty Pups) upon discovering their roles in defeating Dr. Eggman and keeping him out of Adventure Bay. They also ended up talking to the Nightly World News and its star reporter, Hailey Dailey (who had a pet cat named Mr. Nibbles that was, unbeknownst to anybody else, in reality the infamous Copycat). The group went ahead and did the press conference, but in order to protect themselves and all innocents that may have been affected by their comments, said nothing about either of the two meteors. They also said nothing about Mayor Goodway, Chickaletta, or any of their personal lives back in Adventure Bay, out of fear that SSTV News would try to make a scandal out of something that wasn't. The pups appeared as the Mighty Pups for this, but not the anthro version.
Overall, it went well, however, and to everybody's relief, Marshall didn't spill the beans. (Even he was worried he was going to do this, since he once proved he was bad at keeping secrets when he struggled to keep Chase's surprise birthday party a secret on that one occasion; fortunately, he lucked out, because the power went out, and Chase got distracted by the emergency of having to direct traffic.)
Back in Adventure Bay, everybody was watching the live conference, and Mayor Goodway led everybody in a round of applause for the way they handled it. Chickaletta clucked multiple times, leading everybody to think she was cheering alongside them, but the reality is that she was just wanting more corn to eat. "I can see that even you are happy for them, Chickaletta," the mayor smiled.
"BA-BUCK, BA-GERK!" Chickaletta clucked.
Eventually the mayor took out a piece of corn on the cob and let her purse chicken begin to eat it.
Dr. Eggman, however, was also watching the press conference, and began moaning to himself. "Drat!" he groaned. "Am I ever going to be able to take on that pesky hedgehog without those idiotic dogs and that boy showing up alongside them? This is outrageous! This is unconstitutional! This is unsanitary!"
"Unsanitary? How is that unsanitary?" Orbot and Cubot asked each other.
"No matter. I will still take them all out if it's the last thing I ever do! The Eggman Empire shall expand as it has always been destined to do so, and the penalty for disloyalty or disobedience to it is full extermination!"
He laughed his evil laugh as he prepared to launch his assault, and Orbot commented to Cubot, "I hate to say it, but the boss really means business this time!"
"Uh-huh!" Cubot nodded.
TO BE CONTINUED
PAW Patrol © Spin Master, Nickelodeon, and everybody else who owns the rights, and created by Keith Chapman.
Sonic the Hedgehog © SEGA