I arrive to the lookout after a long (but fun) day of building and repairing. The jet ski Zuma chose to fix was almost complete. We identified all functioning wires and replaced the damaged ones, patched all the holes using other scraps of metal laying around, and extracted the damaged motor. Now all we need to do is repair the motor if possible, else create a new one from scratch (of course we could buy one, but what's the fun in that?) and probably wash and paint it if we want to make it look good
Anyway, back to the present, I arrive to the lookout and rush in so we are informed about the mission
Apparently, even after carrying the jet ski onto my truck and driving here, we still made it in time since we saw the rest of the pups also rushing into the elevator
As usual, as we run towards the elevator, a clumsy Marshall trips into something on the floor and is sent flying our direction
However, I had already anticipated that and managed to pull me and Zuma away from the rest of the pups who are then tumbled to the ground
"My bad" I hear Marshall say, causing everyone to giggle
As everyone stands back up, we go up the elevator to the top floor of the lookout, and with the usual flashing light we are almost instantly changed into our mission suits
"Ready for action, Ryder, sir!" I hear Chase say in a military voice, standing straight as we await instructions
"I swear this pup thinks he's in the military sometimes"
"Well, pups, we got a problem" said Ryder, pressing a button on his pup pad revealing the animation used to show us the situation. "Some workers were inspecting some pipes when one of them ended up breaking, leading the city's sewer system into the ocean, and now they are having trouble containing it"
The animation on screen showed a broken pipe spilling stuff into the ocean
"Now, I know that it's getting dark and it's already late, but if we don't fix this soon it might cause some serious damage to our beach"
Looking around I notice Zuma's expression. He was petrified
"For this mission, I'm gonna need..." Ryder said as he pressed a button in his pup pad
"Zuma" Zuma was brought back by the image of an anchor with an orange background on the screen, which was clearly referring to him
"Zuma, I'll need you to secure the broken pipe so we can fix it"
Zuma seemed to listen, but it seems like the mission shocked him so much he wouldn't even reply with one of his typical phrases
"I think I'll need to talk to him before we take on the mission" I say to myself. We can't risk having him messing up because he's so focused on protecting his so beloved beach
"I'll also need Rocky" Once again, a symbol appeared on screen, this time with the recycling symbol, referring to me
"Rocky, I need you to use your abilities to fix the pipe and make sure no more spillages occur"
"Green means go!" I reply with one of my own phrases
"Alright! Paw Patrol is on a roll!"
Zuma seems to try to put himself together for the mission, but he's clearly having some trouble doing so. It's like he just can't help but to worry about the beach
I'm pretty sure he's always had a thing for the beach
Even when he first joined the Paw Patrol he mentioned the beach being one of his favorite places on Earth, though I still don't get why
I mean, despite of the water, the beach is a fun place. You can play volleyball or just relax on the sand, which is cool, but for Zuma, it's something more. Something which I don't understand
But at least that's the good thing between Zuma and I. We may not really understand each other, like I don't really understand his fascination for the beach or the water, and he doesn't seem to understand my fascination for recycling and building, but we do accept each other. We know that we are both different, but we also know to respect that
I guess that's why we became such great friends
Anyway, now it was my time to act like a good friend and help out Zuma. Because even though he doesn't want to show it, he is crumbling inside
"You know this is just like any other mission, right? Minor risk, low difficulty. Nothing out of the ordinary and nothing to worry about" I say reassuringly to the lab as we reach our pup houses to then transform them into our vehicles
Zuma didn't reply
His jaw was still dropped. He slowly turned to face me with a look of terror. I actually had to fight the urge to laugh at his expression, but luckily I managed to control it
"I'm not really sure if that was of any help to Zuma, but I'm sure he'll be better once we are done with the mission"
~ at the site of the spilling ~
We arrive to the site, which is a small cliff from where you can see the now blackish ocean water. At the bottom of the cliff, you could see many pipes running through into the undergrounds of Adventure Bay, with one of the pipes seemingly fissured, spilling drainage into the ocean
I step out of my truck, looking at the crowd of workers worryingly looking down at the pipe that's spilling waste into the beach
"Alright, people, we need to inspect the area and the spilling" said Ryder, looking at the pipe spilling massive amounts of some blackish liquid into the blue ocean
"Zuma, I need you to get down there and temporarily secure the pipe"
Zuma just stared in silence
"Come on, Zuma, we need you here now" I say smiling reassuringly. This encouraging stuff is really hard but hopefully I can get him back on track
Zuma then gives me and Ryder a confident look before stating his catchphrase "let's dive in!"
"Huh... I guess it did work. Well that's a relief"
"Just be careful not to 'dive in' into the polluted water!" I tell him before he jumps into the ocean
Then, with gentility and grace, I see a brown figure swim through the ocean near the broken pipe
"Alwight, Wyder, I'm vewy close to the pipe, but I don't think we discussed exactly how I was supposed to seal it"
"Don't worry about that, your suit should have a quick cement dispenser installed that you can use to temporarily seal it, then we can work on permanently fixing it once it stops leaking"
"What? When did you have the time to install that?! You know what, nevewmind. I'm sealing it now"
"Alright, we should get going down there to get a permanent solution and check the rest of the pipes" I say, looking at Zuma stuggle to seal the fissure, but eventually managing to do so
We are lowered by an elevator the workers built to access the pipes. Now that Zuma sealed the fissure we can use it to lower us down safely
I take a good look at the recently damaged pipe and at the others that follow
"This should be easy to fix, but I'm more worried about the rest of the pipes; they seem quite vulnerable. If we want to prevent any more spillings, we should probably—"
I am interrupted by Ryder getting a call in his pup pad
"Ryder, we need your help!"
"Mr. Porter? What's wrong?"
"My restaurant... it's on fire!"
"What?! Alright, we're heading there right now" said Ryder before ending the call
"Are we really heading there right now?" I asked. "How could we work on another mission without finishing this one first?"
"Well, we've already secured this, so it should hold up at least until we're done"
Then, just as if it was only waiting for the right timing, another pipe broke, followed by another one, then another one
"You're right. You should probably stay here to fix that"
"What about Mr. Porter?"
"We'll just have to split up. Since I don't need you for this mission, I'll just have to leave you here to take care of this while attend the more urgent mission"
"Two missions at once!? I didn't even know that was possible!"
"Trust me, Rocky. You can handle this"
Ryder turned to his pup pad to call the pups
"Pups, we have another mission, but we don't have time for the regular procedure, so just meet me outside Mr. Porters restaurant with your gear, all of you. We'll need as many hands —and paws— in this as we can" said Ryder as he went up the elevator
As Ryder continued to rise while I was left on the site of the pipes to get to work, I could just barely hear Chase's voice say "copy that, Ryder. We'll be on our way"
I could not believe Mr. Porter's restaurant was on fire, but I had to get that off my mind and focus on the pipes that were now polluting the ocean three times faster than the first one
"Zuma, I'll need you to... Zuma?" I had just noticed Zuma wasn't anywhere near the pipes. Taking a look around I noticed Zuma was... swimming?! Really?!
"Seriously, Zuma?! We're on a mission and you still have to go for a swim?!" I yelled, hoping I could catch his attention
Luckily I did, as I could see him turn around surprised to see the now three fissured pipes once again spilling waste into the ocean
"I thought we wewe done with that?!" He said with a worried expression while slowly swimming in my direction
"Well, apparently not, so let's get working"
"Where's Wyder?" I hear him say, now rising from the water and into the shore at the bottom of the cliff where the damaged pipes were
"He left for another mission, but now we gotta focus on this one, and we need to move fast. I'll need you to seal the fissures again"
"On it" He said as he pulled put the quick cement dispenser and began patching the fissures
"I think all of these pipes should be replaced, so we should just patch them to make sure they hold until they are; I'll get my tools"
After a few more minutes of securing pipes we were finally done. Stepping back to double check all the pipes had been patched and secured, I called Ryder to see how they handled their mission
"Hey, Rocky. Are you pups done with your mission?"
"We are. How did yours go? Did you save 's restaurant?"
"We did. Lucky for us, it was a small fire and we put it out quickly with minimal damage. Now we're back in the lookout, and you should be too since it's already getting dark"
"Roger that, Ryder. We'll be on our way"
"Alright, Zuma, we are finally done, so we should be heading back to the lookout"
"Aww, alweady?" Zuma complained, swimming around in the area near the just fixed spilling
"That pup sure has something for the ocean" I said to myself, shaking my head as he continued swimming around
"Fine. We can get going now" he said as he began to swim in my direction
"Aren't you even a little bothered by the fact that the water you were just swimming on had recently been mixed with waste from the sewer?"
I ask him as he reaches the bottom of the cliff and we get into the elevator to head back
"Nope. Not at all" he replied with a smile, but was interrupted by a loud "thump" as the elvator stopped roughly and suddenly about halfway up
"Why did it stop?" Questioned Zuma
"I don't know. Let me see if I can fix it"
I turned around and began to inspect the elvator
"Uh-Oh"
"What is it?" Asked a concerned lab
"The elevator's rope wires are breaking"
"Well, can you fix it?"
"No, I'm afraid I can't reach it. If they're the only things holding the elevator it means the elevator might fall soon"
"What? What awe we gonna do about it?"
"I don't know. I'm trying to think of something"
"Can't we just jump into the ocean?"
"What?! No! That's not an option!"
"Why not? Awe you willing to die just to avoid the watew?"
"Of course not, but I should at least make sure that's the only choice" I say as I look at the elevator, hoping for an alternative
"We don't have time to ovewthink, Wocky. We'we going to jump"
"Just give me time to—"
In the blink of an eye, I can just barely see a brown figure moving towards me at great speed, just before tackling me away from the elevator platform
"Wha-ah!" As I fall along with Zuma I manage to hold on to the elvator platform by a paw, but he grabs me by one of my back paws and we end up hanging from the edge of the elevator
"Wocky, what awe you doing?!"
"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" I've got to admit I was terrified at that point. Not just by the idea of getting wet, but I don't even know gow to swim!
"Wocky, you'we not gonna die! I'll just swim you to shore, but you have to let go!"
"I-I can't let go" just looking down at the sea is terrifying for me. I might die there!
"Wocky, I'm sowwy"
"Huh? For wha- ARGH!" I yell in pain as I look down to see Zuma, who... bit my paw? HE BIT MY PAW!
Still yelling in pain, I let go of my other paw and before I knew it, I was falling straight to the ocean...
Who would've imagined a good day could go down so quickly...