Chapter 4
The pups, their parents, Katie, and Ryder were outside decorating the tree. Skye's wings (being her jetpack, not an actual pair of cockapoo wings) greatly helped in putting Rocky's recycled ornaments on branches that no one else could reach. There were a bunch of those, too: the tree that the young Ryder had chosen was at least twelve feet tall and was twice as tall as the lad, even with his hair spiking up like it was.
It wasn't long before Miracle finally showed up with another labrador, no doubt Thala. He had same coat as Zuma's, but his eyes were a shiny blue and his paws huge. The former eco Pup of the team approached the group, his long muzzle covered with a toothy grin. "Heyo," he said, "Splish-spash, this old guy'll swim in a flash, right?"
"Hey Thala," Splotch said as he trooped up to Thala. Snow crunched in between his toes. "How're the fleas?"
The two dogs chuckled. It was common knowledge that the pair were best buddies; back in the day, it was common for them to drive each other's rigs to the rescue.
"Oh they're long gone, and you know that."
"Yeah, I figured as much. How're the contraptions?"
Thala shrugged. "It's a great hobby and an art. But anyway, how are you?"
"I-"
"I was just fine before she showed up."
Thala's ears twitched as he looked inquisitively over at the female dalmatian who interrupted them. "Who? The medic?"
Scruffy sharply retorted, "Who else? She made quite the scene earlier today!"
Thala looked over to his friend. Splotch made an affirmative motion.
"Why does that not surprise me?" He heaved a sigh.
"Hey, it's not your fault, she chose to live the way she did."
"I know. Still upsets me. The dog leaves her job, honor, mate and son behind for some Rottie she met in the alleys. Irresponsible."
"That's right," Shayla said as she frowned over at the duo. "You can tell someone what's right and what's wrong, but at the end of the day, it's that pup's decision. Believe me, I know." Her eyes clouded over; it was clear to Rubble, Skye, and Rocky, the three pups present, just what she was referring to. Despite their lack of causal relationships to the instance with Swift, they didn't like the expression of Shayla's.
Everyone remained silent for a moment more.
Somewhere in the world, someone sneezed.
Thala bravely cleared his throat. "So, what's new?"
"Well, nothing really. Just the usual stuff." Splotch picked up a Christmas tree-shaped ornament and jumped up to get it higher up in the tree.
"Come on, there's gotta be something."
"Nope. Sorry." He put his large, squarish paw up on the edge of the cardboard box in which the ornaments were piled up. "Is something going on with you?"
"Sorry, but I have no news here."
"How can you expect him to have news for you then, hm?" Scruffy asked, her nostrils flaring. An amused look appeared on her face.
Splotch shrugged. "Hey, it doesn't hurt to ask, right?"
Miracle placed an ornament on Rocky's catapult. She closed one of her eyes, letting her dominant eye (her right one) take control. Once she was sure of where she was aiming, she launched the ornament into the tree. Unfortunately, Skye ended up in the ornament's trajectory and struck her in the head.
"Ow," she yelped. She looked in the ornament's path to see an apologetic Miracle looking at her.
"Sorry about that," Miracle said, "I didn't see you coming."
"That's okay," Skye said as she rubbed her head. "At least it wasn't a tin can; I'd need a tetanus shot if that happened."
"Actually, you already had one."
"Oh, right. Still, not a big fan of needles."
"I know what you mean." Miracle loaded another ornament onto the catapult and aimed in another direction. She barked, "Fore," before she launched it.
This time, the ornament made contact with only the tree. It sat on top of one tough branch that didn't even bob too much when it landed. She barked a celebratory "Bullseye!"
"Nice shot," Chase said as he half-ambled, half-limped up to Miracle.
The female pup smiled widely and happily replied, "Thanks!"
Another ornament, fashioned after a candy cane, flew up one of the branches adjacent to the large red ball Miracle had launched.
Its source was a smirking Pace. The German shepherd had walked over from decorating the extremely huge Christmas tree in the front to the other pups, who worked dutifully inside on the not-as-large-but-still-twelve-foot-tall tree.
"Hi dad," Chase greeted him enthusiastically. The tree had many bald spots where ornaments didn't cover, but the pups had only just started and were continuing. When they were done, it'd look like it came right out of a movie, he was sure of it.
"Well Chase, you pups have really outdone yourselves this time." Pace beamed at his son and the other pups' work.
"Well thanks Dad, but you all pitched in."
The older dog chuckled and responded, "Well, a bit, but you guys gave it personality and a zing."
"Zing?" A certain chocolate brown pup trotted in, frowning gently and looking rightfully confused.
Pace chuckled. "It's like, erm… Pizazz!"
"Pizazz? What's that?"
"It's like, ah, a personal touch. Something that makes it… unique!" Pace grinned and brightened up: unique! That was a perfect word for it.
"Oh. Okay."
Skye dropped the star on top of the tree. "There, now we're done."
"It just needs a bit of tinsel," Rubble enthusiastically exclaimed. He picked up the long silver snake of material in his jaws and dragged it up to the tree. He set it down, then barked. "Ryder, we need you!"
"I'm on it," Ryder said as he walked up to the box. He started wrapping it around the tree. He eventually needed Marshall's ladder to get higher up the tree. (Of course, as much was because he couldn't reach, nor could his hair.)
The moment Ryder finished, though, magic seemed to flit across every single pup and person in the room's faces. Rubble gasped as it happened, Chase just grinned, and Skye giggled.
"This is the best tree we've ever had," Rubble exclaimed.
"Couldn't agree more," Pace replied.
Skye bounced up and giggled. "This is gonna be the best holiday ever!"
Later on, night fell across Adventure Bay. Sooner and with less strife than usual, the people and canines all settled in on the cushy second floor, with the tree and the fireplace. The only argument that had led up to everyone's peaceful expressions on their faces as they slept had been between Scruffy and Gemini.
"I wouldn't dare sleep next to a traitorous mutt like this one!" Scruffy had shouted, her eyes sharp and her glare harsher than ever.
It only took about five minutes to get Scruffy to sleep on the opposite side of the room as Gemini without whining about it. An extra two minutes was spent getting Gem to stop grumbling about the Dalmatian.
It was only a half an hour after that argument that everyone went to sleep.
The peace of the night was cut through by a siren. Ryder was the first up, his eyes extremely wide, though the siren disturbed everybody in the Lookout.
Scruffy was on her feet. "What's going on? Why's the alarm sounding?"
Ryder jumped off of the couch on which he'd been resting. "PAW Patrol, there's a hurricane outside!"
The windows all around the lookout showed the hurricane at work. Leaves were hardly noticeable flying through the air; a wig, some clothes, and entire branches were actually soaring around without halt. Across one of the closest streets, a plastic table was moving, like a ball rolling across a smooth surface.
One large, tall tree had fallen, going right across the street and destroying the yards between two houses and just missing the homes themselves.
"PAW Patrol, we've got to get downstairs. The siren means that the hurricane is getting worse!"
Everyone balked at him for a moment.
"Well, what're we waiting for?!" Pace barked. "Lead the way, Ryder!"
Chase was actually the one to lead the way, lumbering ahead of everyone else in spite of his paw injury. He went down the emergency steps three at a time as everyone followed.
Everyone finally made it downstairs to the basement of the Lookout. Even underground, the siren penetrated their ears, but only slightly.
A tense air went about the room as they all sat there. When Thala had been sitting next to Gemini, he moved away, giving the she-dog a dirty look.
Ryder, feeling very grown up and mature all of a sudden, saw the need to separate everyone; there were disaster protection rooms in the basement, ten of them.
Hence, Pace, Shayla and Miracle took one room, Scruffy, Splotch and Marshall another, Rocky, Smoky, Zuma, and Rubble in the one adjacent to that, and so on. He made extra-sure that Utsukushi and Gemini stayed well away from Scruffy, and that the latter also kept her distance from Thala. He just hoped that Utsu and Gem wouldn't bite each other's heads off…
Some of the canines found it sound and easy to get to sleep.
Ryder on the other hand couldn't find it in himself to go to sleep. He was much too concerned about the people aboveground: Mayor Goodway, Alex, Captain Turbot… Katie especially. He had many human friends, but his best human friend was the blonde-haired girl his age. She was his second best friend in total, behind Chase.
It had crossed his mind that, possibly, he and Katie would end up together, like Pace and Shayla or Thala and Gemini before Gem made the decision to leave everyone. It didn't freak him out (the thought had felt more like a calm, ever-present one than a realization).
He was too worried to get to sleep, anyway.
"Ryder?"
Ryder didn't even have to look to know that it was Chase who said that. "Hey Chase. Can't sleep?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing," Chase replied, with a small smile Ryder couldn't see.
"Oh… Well... Wanna talk then?"
"If it gets my mind off of everything, I'd like to."
"Okay then…"
"And it's not just this storm; it's Gemini and Utsu."
Ryder looked up, surprised. He'd put Chase in with Gem and Utsukushi for a reason. "What, they're fighting?" He knew he should have put Gem alone.
"No… Actually, they're hitting it off. I think they're bonding because Scruffy dislikes their company."
Ryder looked surprised for a moment, but the image of Utsukushi and Gemini, the loners, bonding, made him crack a smile. "That's good."
Chase suddenly whimpered. Quickly, he asked, "Why did she do it?"
Ryder finally looked at Chase, vestiges of his smile still on his face. "Why did she do what?"
"Why did she turn on the PAW Patrol?"
"Oh, that. Well, she never did tell us... but I think the reason behind it could be the loss of our search and rescue pup, Gallant."
"Oh."
Ryder nodded. "The two were best friends. They were like you and Marshall."
"But if that's the case, then why didn't she say anything?"
Ryder crossed his arms behind his head. "Well, it is a guess after all, so I don't know if that's the real reason, but she always was a bit rough around the edges. She always liked appearing tough, and she used to let her guard down around him. If you can keep a secret, I think she wanted to have his pups."
"Ohhh..."
A pause filled the air. It was broken when Chase said, "And what do you think will happen when this storm blows over?"
"That's a question I don't know the answer to. We'll just have to wait."
"Okay… I think I might try and get back to bed…"
"'Kay, good night, buddy."
"Goodnight Ryder," Chase said as he walked back to his room.
Ryder took one last look at the elevator. He thought longingly of his couch, as he had to lay down on the ground in there, but knew that it wasn't.
He spied, for the first time, Zuma laying in the corner. "Zuma?" he asked in surprise.
The chocolate lab sat up and grinned sheepishly. "Hi Wyder."
"What's wrong?"
"Parent problems. I'm just worried… I heard evwything."
"Oh."
"You could cut the tension with your claws with them." He glanced down at his slightly sharper-than-average clawed paw.
"Why don't you sleep over with me?"
"Oh, thanks…" Zuma trotted over and then stopped with a start. "Are you sure that's okay?"
"It's no problem," Ryder replied as he scooped Zuma up from off the floor. "You're such a good pup."
"Thanks, Wyder…" Zuma yawned.
Ryder put Zuma on his chest and smiled at the water rescue pup. It didn't take long for the pup to go off to sleep.
The sight of the little chocolate pup asleep warmed Ryder's heart enough to go off to sleep on his own.