A few days later, on the day of the election, Chase was just sleeping in the house when he something outside. Walking through the doggie door and found a strange-looking car being unloaded from a trailer.
Then he recognized what kind of car it was, the very one that Ryder had helped to build at the university. He walked over to the vehicle just as it was finished being unloaded. The young genius looked to see his pup approaching him. "Great timing, Chase," he said. "We were thinking of testing this out…"
"After the election downtown," Owen noted.
"Are you sure Dad? I'm still too young to vote."
"You know your mom suggested what your carrier could be like. I think you should get a degree in technology."
"I was thinking about that."
"But what about the car?" Chase asked.
"We'll have to leave it here," Ryder explained. "It's pretty much ready to go."
"So, we'll test it after the election."
"Right, but… The election is at city hall… So…" Chase looked down as this would be too anxiety-inducing for him. Marshall was riding in the back of the truck and looked out the window and saw his friend's worried expression.
When Owen let him out, the Dalmatian walked over to Ryder. "Do you think I could stay with Chase while you go to that event?" he asked.
"I don't see why not," Ryder commented. He walked inside the house with the pups to check on a few things before they left. He turned the TV on so the news could be on as it would show the two candidates' last speeches before the people decided who would be mayor. "Do you guys need anything else before we leave?"
"We've got plenty of food and water set out," Chase noted. "Plus, now we have a way of calling you if there is a problem." Chase pointed to his new pup tag.
"Good point. I think you two are set. I'll make sure to be back as soon as things are over." Ryder quickly ran back outside to the car before he and his parents drove away downtown.
The pups were left on their own as the news started to come on. "Hello everyone," Marty Muckracker said, "With only hours away from Election Day, Humdinger and Goodway have one last shot to show what they have to offer before everyone casts their votes."
Chase yawned as he waited for the boring stuff to be over as Marshall thought of something. "Say Chase, you weren't scared when you tried chasing me in the bus," the Dalmatian said.
"What do you mean?" the German Shepherd asked.
"You were terrified when we started walking home."
"I had a panic attack because a car almost hit me."
"But you were running down the street past several other cars the bus didn't hit and yet kept going." Chase thought about what Marshall said. Normally if he was by himself in the city, surely he would've frozen up in fear. Yet he didn't, because Marshall was in danger. The two thought about this for a little bit as the news played with the event going on.
At the said event, people were forming a crowd as they waited for the two candidates to give their speeches. Humdinger was making sure that his final trick was ready to show off.
"Alright, this has to work," he said to himself. He quickly fixed his tie and made sure his mustache and hat were neat before he walked up to his podium right next to Goodway.
"Hello," Marty said, addressing the two candidates, "Do you have anything else to say to help convince you that you would be good for Adventure City's mayor?"
Ryder and his parents stood in the crowd as the young boy realized something. "I don't think we've focused on Goodway until now," he noted.
"Personally I think she'd have a harder time running unopposed," Sam commented.
Deann Goodway spoke first. "Adventure City, I've heard many are fond of furthering our technology," she said, "And I plan on using tech to enhance our homes and businesses by finding their issues and helping to make new products that don't have them."
"Very interesting idea," Marty commented. "Humdinger, what do you have?"
"I already have one idea to help the city improve," he proclaimed quickly. "I've been trying to find ways of improving public transportation in the city with little success until now."
He guided the crowd's attention to a truck that slowly pulled into view that had a purple hot air balloon on a flatbed. The balloon looked like it was ready to go but it had a giant fan attached to the basket.
"Why is that thing?" Ryder questioned.
"No idea but it does not look safe," Owen commented.
Goodway had a similar feeling to Ryder's family upon seeing the balloon. "Can you explain what the giant fan is for?" she requested.
"Certainly," Humdinger replied. He helped set up a set of stairs so they could get to the basket. They took one of the microphones with them so he could explain his project to the crowd. "I figured that air travel was the best way to clear up traffic in the city."
"So you added a giant fan to a balloon?"
"Yes. Shall we take it for a test drive?"
"If you insist." The two candidates stepped inside the basket before they gave some slack to the rope so the balloon could go up. Humdinger started the fan which made the balloon swing around the truck.
The balloon was starting to wobbly about and Ryder saw it. "This doesn't look properly secure," he guessed.
He wasn't too far off as the rope attached to a cable wasn't attached properly, it was only wrapped around the winch. It unraveled more and more until all of the rope had been released.
Without anything to keep them on the ground, the balloon began to fly away with the fan still on full blast. "Uh oh," Humdinger gasped. He quickly tried to turn the fan off, but in his haste, he accidentally pulled it into the basket, nearly injuring himself and Goodway.
To make matters worse, the end of the rope was in a noose and was dragging across the ground and slipped around Ryder's ankle as he turned to watch the balloon flying overhead. Before he noticed, it was too late. Ryder quickly got dragged along while he used his hands to try and crabwalk to try and keep himself up.
Eventually, he started getting lifted in the air despite his parents' best chance to grab him. The cameraman was getting footage and it was being shown live. Everyone watching the news could see it, including the pups. Chase couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"RYDER!" he cried. He quickly started going into a panic before Marshall stood up.
"We have to get there!" the Dalmatian cried.
"But how? I barely managed to keep pace with the bus and that… Wait a minute, the car!" Both pups rushed to the garage where the newly built car was.
"Um, you think this will work? Ryder hasn't tested it yet."
"Ryder needs our help." Chase sniffed around for a little bit until he found his pup pack and vest. "Oh, here's where they left it." He slipped himself into the vest, but it needed to be zipped up. "Marshall, a little help please?"
Biting down on the zipper, Marshall zipped the vest up so that it and the pup pack were secure. "Now what?"
Chase quickly jumped onto a table that was next to a button, which he pressed to open the garage door. "Once I drive it outside, you push the button to close the door."
"You mean the car?" Chase just nodded as he helped Marshall onto the table, as the Dalmatian didn't have as good of a jump as the German shepherd. After his friend was in position, Chase jumped into the driver's seat and pressed a button that started the car's engine.
He tried to remember how humans like Sam and Owen drove, he looked at the gear shift between the two seats. Chase pressed down on a button on the lever until it moved to D. After doing that, the car moved forward. Chase then tried pressing the buttons on the steering, making the car lurch forward. Quickly pressing the other steering button, the brakes quickly came on.
"Marshall, let's go!" Chase cried. The Dalmatian pressed the button to close the door and then went out the doggie door to join Chase. "Okay, hold on!" Releasing the brake, Chase pressed down on the gas to make them race off toward the city center. Since he was still inexperienced, Chase was having a hard time driving straight.
"Whoa! Easy Chase," Marshall cried. He wobbled about in his seat as they swerved about.
"Sorry, this is my first time driving." They took a sharp bend to the left, making Marshall almost fall out of the seat if it wasn't for Chase helping to catch him. However, this meant nobody was steering, nearly making the pups crash. Thankfully, they recovered from this and they finally took notice of the seat belts.
"Maybe we should put these on."
"Yeah, probably should've done that before we left." They both wisely buckled up and drove on toward the scene of the disaster.
Meanwhile, Rubble, Skye, Rocky, and Zuma had all witnessed either in person or on the news. They had all gotten to the city center where they found a distressed Sam and Owen. The parents saw the pups approach them looking worried. "Where's Ryder?" Rubble asked.
"Stuck flying from a balloon," Owen explained.
"We know that," Rocky stated, "We mean where is he now?"
"We don't know. We just hope that he's…" Owen paused as he heard some tires screeching before they saw Chase and Marshall driving towards them. Slamming on the brakes, they managed to stop beside the group.
"Is everyone okay?" Chase asked.
"Um… Yeah," Zuma confirmed. "Awe you dwiving?"
"...You could say that."
"Chase, we have enough trouble right now with Ryder's predicament," Sam stated, "We don't you street racing."
"We brought this vehicle here because we want to help Ryder. Hold on, let me try something." The pup looked down at his pup tag. "Calling Ryder."
Meanwhile, Ryder was getting pulled into the basket with the help of Goodway and Humdinger. The young boy was relieved to be somewhere safer than dangling from a rope. "Are you okay?" Goodway asked.
"I think so," Ryder sighed. He rubbed his ankle as it felt a little sore. Suddenly, he heard his phone ringing and was surprised at who was calling him. He quickly answered the call, "Chase is that you?"
"Ryder, are you okay?" Chase asked.
"I'm fine. The two candidates helped me into the basket so I should be fine until we land."
"Um… That might be a problem," Humdinger admitted, "I never fully intended this balloon to fly so I never fully planned for us to be higher than thirty feet."
"Then how do we land?" Goodway asked.
Ryder looked at the gas tank and the fan. "If we disable the gas we should run out of hot air and we can use the fan to steer us back to the city." Deann Goodway quickly tried to do both of these, but her panicked haste made her break the handle off and knock the fan into the basket. The handle for the tank wouldn't be so lucky and fell to the ground.
"Oops," she muttered.
"What was oops?" Chase asked.
"We can't just off the gas and we've lost our steering," Ryder answered. He looked down to see where the handle would land. It bounced off some rooftops, rolling a couple of yards, before making a splash just short of the shore. "Looks like we're not getting the gas handle back unless the beach spits it out."
"Ryder, is there any way we can help you?"
"If you can find some way of getting the handle back to the basket and maybe some tools to fix the fan, I think we can steer ourselves to safety. Until then, we're heading to the farm.
"Farmer Al's farm?" Chase asked, "We'll meet you there!"
The call came to an end as Chase looked toward the other pups. "Um, when you say we," Rubble noted, "Do you mean just you and Marshall?"
"If you guys want to tag along," Marshall said, "You can."
"But how are we supposed to get the handle and tools into the basket?" Skye asked.
"If there's some way to launch them to Ryder, we could get the balloon back down," Chase suggested.
"We could bring the tool pack from the University," Rocky noted. "We could use those for the tools."
"But what about the handle?"
"It's likely that the tank will need the exact handle for it to operate. We won't be able to just slap on an old steering wheel."
"So we just have to fish it out?" Zuma asked.
"It sounds like it," Chase commented.
"Leave it to me! I was bown fow swimming!"
"We can take you to the beach," Chase said, "I think we have room for all of you." He took a look at the seats in the car, they were smaller than a regular car would have so six seats could be fitted to the prototype car.
Skye jumped into one of the seats as she was ready for action but wasn't too sure about the vehicle. "You've had a chance to test this right?" she asked.
"Um…. This sort of is the test run," Chase admitted.
"What?!" the pups questioned.
"Look, there are people in danger and we need to help them." The pups reluctantly got on board despite Sam's concerns.
"Chase you can't go driving off in this thing," she stated.
"But we can't leave Ryder and the candidates flying in a runaway balloon," Chase retorted. Before anything else could be said, he floored on the gas, making the tires squeal before he and the pups all raced away!
"Wahoo!" Zuma cheered. "This is awesome! Wyder weally outdid himself with this!"
"Guys, brace yourself," Chase warned, "We've got a sharp turn up ahead." He took a sharp right, nearly making his passengers fly out of their seats.
"Take it easy!" Rubble cried.
"Try putting your seatbelts on," Marshall suggested.
"…Oh so that's what these things are for." Rubble and the other pups buckled up as they raced towards the beach to find the missing handle.
As soon as they got there, Zuma was unbuckled and hopped out with Rubble and Skye. "You guys look around for that handle," Chase ordered, "We'll be right back." He sped off with Marshall and Rocky as Zuma ran into the water to swim around for the handle.
The chocolate lab held his breath as he swam around a little bit until he saw something shiny. Swimming deeper, he found the handle. Delight, he bit down to pick it up, then swam back to shore.
Rubble was sniffing and digging around on land, thinking the handle had buried itself somehow as Skye was looking out at sea. "Shouldn't Zuma be back yet?" she asked.
"How long has he been down there?" Rubble asked.
"It feels like five minutes. I'm worried if he…" Both of them jump as Zuma came back up, spitting out the handle so he could gasp for air.
"Found it!" he proclaimed.
"Wait, really?" Rubble asked. They looked at the tank's handle. It was a bit dented from its fall, but it was still in good enough shape to be used.
"How long can you hold your breath?" Skye asked.
"I think as long as a walrus."
Back with Chase, Marshall, and Rocky made it to the university and dashed inside to look for the tool pack. Rocky soon had his eyes on some cardboard, soda bottles, and a few minutes that he found left out in different parts of the university.
"Rocky, what are you doing?" Chase questioned, "Hurry up!"
"I'm coming, hold on!" The mixed rushes to catch up as Kendra quickly helped the pups gather the gear they needed to rescue the balloon's passengers.
"So how do we get these into the balloon?" Kendra asked.
"My only plan is that we launch these from a high building," Chase explained. "There are plenty of them in the city."
"But Ryder and the others are heading to the farm," Marshall reminded. "The tallest building there would be the silo. And I don't even know how we can get up there."
"Or how we could get the balloon anywhere close to it," Rocky added. He then began to think about the items he saw earlier.
"Kind of feels like we're going to have to rely on luck," Chase muttered.
"Or we can fly up to it."
"Fly?" Kendra and the pup's questioned.
"Give me some duct tape and help me carry things to the car and I can build something to help stop that balloon."
"…If you say so," Kendra said. She grabbed a roll of duct tape before following Rocky to help pick some stuff up.
A little while later, the pups all met up back at the beach. "Good news Chase," Zuma proclaimed, "I found the handle!"
"Great job, Zuma," Chase replied. "Now, we need to get to the farm before we lose that balloon." The pups sped off again as they started to take notice that Rocky was building… Something.
"What are you making?" Rubble asked.
"A jetpack," Rocky responded.
"A what?" Skye asked, sounding a little excited.
"You mean you're going to make one of us fly?" Marshall asked.
"Depends. Which one of you is the lightest?" Rocky asked. "We're only going to get one shot with this." He did his best to use the tool pack to place the tape onto the cardboard that was cut into the shape of wings.
"I'm pretty light," Skye noted. "I parkour over the buildings all the time."
"Sounds good to me. Just hope you don't mind a possible rough landing."
"Rocky, you do know what you're doing, right?" Chase asked.
"You could say I'm just winging it." One of the wings suddenly flew off only for the mixed breed to barely catch it in his teeth in time. "Okay, this could use more tape." Skye was feeling a little unconfident before she saw something in the air.
"Chase look! There's the balloon!" she cried. The pups looked to see where Skye was pointing. Ryder looked down and was amazed to see the pups driving the car, and so were Goodway and Humdinger.
"Are those dogs in that car?" Humdinger questioned.
"Yep," Ryder confirmed, "And… Chase seems to be driving pretty well."
"That's Chase?" Goodway asked. While she was impressed, Humdinger seemed to be worried. This only got worse when he saw where they were going.
"Farm!" he cried. They turned to see the barn and silo of Al's farm getting closer. Without a method of steering, they were on a crash course with the silo.
Chase sped up to get ahead of the balloon to buy them more time. They needed to get up to the barn or silo. The trouble was that no one knew how to get up there.
They quickly looked around the farm until the pups bumped into Farmer Al. He was surprised to see the pups, especially Chase. "Chase, what are you doing here?" he asked, "Who are your new friends?"
"No time to explain, we need to get onto the roof of the barn to get to that balloon!" Chase responded quickly. Al looked up and could see the balloon getting closer to the silo.
"Oh, boy! Hold on, I'll get a ladder." Al ran into the barn with the pups following him. Rocky was still in the car putting the finishing touches on the jetpack. It had cardboard wings, soda bottle thrusters, and two mints waiting to be added.
"Alright, Skye! Ready to fly?" he asked.
"Um…. Depends if that works," Skye admitted. Rocky just simply slapped the jetpack onto Skye's back before she was given the handle to hold in her mouth.
"We've got the ladder!" Marshall called. He tried his best to help carry it, but he needed Rubble and Farmer Al's help to get it moving.
"You owe me an explanation after this," he said to Chase.
"Sorry, Al, this is an emergency," Chase responded.
"Coming through," Skye muttered, muffled by the handle in her mouth. She walked over to the ladder but the weight shift was too awkward for her to keep balance on the ladder.
"Hold on, let me try lifting it," Al said. Just before he could bend down to pick the cockapoo up, Rocky stopped him.
"Wait, I just got this thing together," the mixed breed stated. "Just one bit of damage to it now would take me too long to fix." He looked up to see the balloon getting closer to the silo. Rubble saw it too along with a pulley system hooked up to the front of the barn.
"What's that?" the bulldog asked.
"That's the pulley I use to help lift heavy things like haybales," Al explained.
"That can work for the jetpack," Rocky noted. He looked around until he found a handle in the barn and quickly duct-tapped it to the back of Skye's jet pack so the pulley's hook could be attached to her.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Al asked.
"We're about to find out now," Rocky noted. "Bring her up guys!"
On top of the barn, the pups were starting to pull Skye upwards. After a short while, she got to the top but the balloon was still getting closer. "We don't have time to wait anymore," Humdinger said, "We're going to crash into the silo!"
Ryder looked at the sandbag on the corners of the basket. "Help me get these sandbags off!" he cried. "If we make the balloon lighter, we should be able to avoid a crash." He began untying one of the sandbags with some help from Goodway. They managed to get it off just in time, slowly rising above the silo.
There was a chicken that had somehow gotten on the roof and hopped into the basket just before the balloon passed over the building. The chicken had landed in Goodway's arms, much to her surprised
"Oh, hello there," she said. She slipped the chicken into her purse to help keep it safe. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be landing soon. …Hopefully."
Once Skye was on the barn roof, her handle was removed and a wrench and screwdriver were fitted to the back. "Okay, now remember we only have one shot," Rocky noted.
"Are you sure this is safe," Chase asked.
"…Probably not." He was about to get the mints ready when Chase suddenly received a call from Ryder.
"Are you pups having any luck?" Ryder asked through the speaker.
"Just hold on a little bit," Chase responded, "Skye will be over to you in a minute." Ryder was a little confused by this as he looked towards the barn.
"Alright, ready Skye?" Rocky asked.
"Ready when you are," Skye replied. She picked up the handle as the mixed breed picked up the mints.
"Okay. Green means go!" Rocky shoved a mint into each bottle, causing a chain reaction, making the soda spew out and Skye shot off like a rocket.
She flew towards the balloon feeling a rush of excitement. The passengers on the runaway balloon saw the cockapoo flying towards them. Skye just ran out of soda just as she landed inside the basket. She was a little bruised from her sudden stop, but she was already.
"Skye, are you okay?" Ryder asked.
"Okay? I'm great!" she cheered. "I just flew! It was incredible!"
"Yes, very nice," Humdinger said, not fully interested. "Do you have anything that can help us?"
"I have two tools and a handle."
"Perfect," Ryder proclaimed. He picked up the handle and placed it back onto the tank so he could shut off the gas. Without any fuel, the fire that helped make hot air went out. "Good, we should run out eventually."
"But where will we land?" Goodway asked.
"With the tools Skye brought, I think I can try and repair the fan so we can try to control our movement." He removed the duct tape off the screwdriver and wrench to try and fix the fan. While he did so, he turned on his phone to put Chase on speaker mode.
"Ryder, did make it?" the German shepherd asked.
"She's safe, and we're regaining control. Just try to keep up with the balloon in case something else goes wrong."
"On our way Ryder." The pups quickly climbed down the ladder and ran back to the car and drove off after the balloon. Farmer Al was still a little confused about what had happened.
"Um, see you pups later," he called, waving goodbye. His confusion increased as he saw a couple of other vehicles driving in the same direction as the pups.
Back in the air, Ryder was reattaching the fan blade to the motor and connecting it to the battery. He tested it and the fan blade spun around before he quickly shut it off.
"Okay, hopefully, this will give us more control," he said. He placed the fan right where it was before it fell and broke, then switched it on again, this time using the fan to push them in the opposite direction.
Sure enough, the balloon stopped and hovered in mid-air. "It's working!" Goodway cheered. "Now we just need to run out of hot air." However, it might've been working too well as the balloon began to drift in the other direction.
Ryder shut the fan off again but they were still moving backward. "Ryder, what's going on?" Skye asked, worried.
"I think the wind must've changed," he guessed. He looked back to see where they were going now and could see the ocean was coming into view just past some cliffs. "Uh oh!"
"Oh, we're going to sink!" Goodway cried.
"Let's try this instead." Ryder moved the fan so it would blow them away from the cliffs. Unfortunately, the fan was making a rattling noise, and it didn't sound good.
"Why is it making that noise?" Skye asked.
"I'm not sure that this fan can keep going for much longer." He looked down to the cliffs and then towards the pups, driving after them.
"Um, I'm not the only one who sees we're all getting closer to a cliff, right?" Marshall asked.
"No, and it means trouble," Chase said. They could see the ocean was the only thing beyond the cliffs.
"I don't think that basket can float," Zuma commented.
"And I don't think they'll be able to make it to a landing zone before they…" Chase paused as he saw something falling from the balloon. He made the car swerve before the parts of the fan crashed to the ground.
"Chase, are you okay?" Ryder asked over the tag speaker.
"I think so. What happened to the fan?"
"I'm not sure, but I doubt that we're going to be able to use it now."
"Is thewe anything we can do?" Zuma asked.
"What if there was something we can grab off the balloon before so we can drag it to a stop?" Marshall asked.
"Wait a minute, the rope!" Chase proclaimed.
"I'm not sure if it'll be long enough, but I'm sure we're willing to try anything," Ryder commented. He let the rope out of the balloon, but it was just a few feet short of reaching the pups.
"Oh, come on!"
"Is it too short?"
"Yes."
"You'll have to think of a new plan fast pups, we're running out of land." Chase looked to see how close they were getting to the cliff while the rope just dangled above them. With their backs against the wall, Chase could only come up with one idea.
"Marshall, take the wheel!" Chase proclaimed.
"What?" Marshall questioned. The others were just as confused by this claim.
"Just do it!" Chase got out of his seat and climbed onto the windshield to give himself more height as Marshall frantically reached for the steering wheel. The balloon was still going down, making the rope get closer to them, but so was the cliff.
"Uh… Any second now," Rocky said, fiddling with his seatbelt. He was tempted to jump out while Rubble had already unbuckled.
With the rope and cliffs getting closer as last… "Got it!" Chase cried with his teeth clenched on the rope. "Brake Marshall!" The Dalmatian took a gamble before he pressed a random button, which was thankfully the brakes. The car skidded as Chase was nearly lifted away by the balloon. Rubble stepped forward and bit onto the German shepherd's tail, much to the pain he felt.
The good news was, they were able to stop the balloon from going to the sea, the bad news was they were still going down. "We're out of hot air!" Goodway cried.
"Skye, jump!" Ryder cried. The cockapoo lept out of the basket as they started going down. Humdinger tried, but it was too late as they were late and they went below the cliff and the basket and balloon stuck on a tree. The pups looked down at the three people stuck in the basket.
"Are you okay?" Marshall asked.
"I like this better when we were a runaway," Humdinger grumbled.
"Ugh, this is worse than before," Chase groaned. "What do we do now?"
"You're going to need to use something to drag us up," Ryder called. "And you better make it fast, I don't think this tree can hold our weight for long." They looked towards the base of the tree, where a crack was starting to form.
The pups could see it too so they started running around, except for Rocky. "How about you try to untie the rope so we could use that to help get you guys up," the mixed breed noted.
"It's a bit short," Ryder informed.
"Then we'll just attach it to something up here. I think that seconds count right now." Ryder knew he was right, so he detached the rope and tossed it up to Rocky. Sure enough, the rope was too short for both sides to get a proper grip, they needed to make it longer.
Searching around, Rubble soon found something buried in the dirt, it looked like more rope. Rubble quickly started digging it up and found this rope was tied into some square pattern. "Hey, pups," he called, "Give me some help here." The other pups ran over to the bulldog and helped dig up the rope which turned out to be an old fishnet.
"How did this get here?" Skye asked.
"Capt'n Tuwbot said that Adventuwe City used to be a big fishing village," Zuma said. "This must be one fwom the old days."
"Maybe it could still work as our rope," Rocky guessed. They quickly rolled up the net and took it over to the cliff. With some help from the pups, they were able to tie the balloon's rope to the old net before tying one end to the car. Rocky then threw the net over to the basket but was just a few inches short.
Ryder had tried to grab it, but he missed it. "Shoot," he groaned. "Try again pups!" The pups began to pull the rope back but could see the crack on the tree was getting bigger. Not only that, but it began to teeter as well.
"Oh, hurry up!" Humdinger cried. He curled up into a ball in fright as Goodway hugged the chicken that hopped on board.
"We need more reach," Rocky muttered.
"I can try gliding across with my wings," Skye suggested.
"No, the net will be too heavy for you to make it," Chase proclaimed. "And I doubt any of us could survive that big of a drop." They looked down to see how far down the fall from the cliff would be.
They looked back at the basket were in, they needed to get the next and rope over to them somehow. Then, Marshall had an idea. "Chase, your tennis ball launcher!" the Dalmatian remembered.
"The what?" most pups questioned. Chase knew what he was he was talking about and barked to bring out his launcher.
"We just need to put the net in here and we can fire it out at the basket," Chase said. They went through with the plan, stuffing the net into the launcher, which barely fit. "Here goes nothing. Ruff! Launch!" With that, the net went flying and landed right into the basket.
"Great shot!" Ryder called. "Now, we need to hold on tight while getting pulled up."
"Is this the best option?" Goodway asked. Another crack from the tree gave them the idea this would be the only option. She placed the chicken back into her purse before holding onto the net.
"Okay, we're ready. Pull pups!" Marshall heard this and got back into the car. He slowly pulled away from the cliff, pulling the net out of the basket. Goodway jumped out while holding onto the net, using her feet as a shock absorber when she fell to the wall of the cliff. Marshall slowly drove the car, pulling Goodway up until she was back onto solid ground.
"Are you okay?" Chase asked.
"I am now," Goodway sighed. "Thank you." She proceeded to walk away to a safe distance as the pups repeated the previous step. Chase launched the net back into the basket for Humdinger to hold onto. He had a rougher time than Goodway did, particularly when he slammed against the cliff, but he did manage to hold onto the net until he was back onto solid ground.
"That was one of the worst experiences of my life," he groaned. He simply walked away as they had one more person to help. Ryder looked at the base of the tree, which looked like it was going to snap at any second. Chase fired the net again and Ryder quickly grabbed on, just as the tree snapped. The basket and balloon fell into the sea as the boy held tight onto the net, landing on the side of the cliff.
"Ryder!?" Chase cried. He looked down to see his owner hanging on.
"I'm okay, just pull me up!" Ryder requested.
"You heard him, pull Marshall!" The Dalmatian listened and drove forward, slowly bringing the boy back to safety. Once they were away from the cliff, Ryder took a minute to catch his breath as Chase walked over to see if he was okay. Ryder just simply bent down and hugged his pup.
By the time everyone calmed down from the rescue, they noticed that a fairly large crowd had started to form, including the news crew.
"Would you look at that folks," Marty Muckraker commented, "Six brave little pups helped to save not just a young boy but also the two candidates for Adventure City's mayor."
"Make that one candidate!" Humdinger prolciamed. "This city is too crazy for me. Nothing works the way it does I almost had the worst balloon ride in my life, not to mention I'm bruised from almost falling. I'm going back to Foggybottom!" With that, he walked away, completely done with trying to be the mayor of the city.
"Well, today is certainly an interesting day of events folk," Marty continued. "It seems without anyone competing against her, Deann Goodway wins by default. Ms. Mayor, do you have anything to say after your wild adventure?" He held the microphone up to the new mayor, who was surprised by what was happening so quickly.
"Well… First of all, I'd like to thank these little pups for jumping to the rescue so fast," Goodway explained, "But I have to ask where you got this technology."
"Um… I kind of sort of built it with a little bit of help," Ryder spoke up. The attention of the crowd turned to the young boy and his pups. Owen and Sam ran out of the crowd over to their son.
"Ryder, are you okay?" Sam asked.
"I'm fine now," Ryder said, "Thanks to the pups."
"Yeah. I'd say those gadgets you helped build really paid off," Owen commented.
"Tell me about it. I have to thank Kendra for helping me."
"And might we ask who this Kendra is?" Marty asked, holding his microphone to the young boy.
"Kendra Wilson is a scientist working at the university. She helped us build most of the gear you see here." There was suddenly a loud splutter that came from the car as some smoke billowed from the engine.
"Um… I think the car might need some work," Marshall guessed.
"I think we might've pushed it a little too far," Chase commented.
"It's okay, pups," Ryder said, "It's just a prototype. Let's just go home." His parents and the pups agreed, but Marty as well as some of the crowd were wanting answer. Goodway, meanwhile, had something on her mind.
A few days later, Owen and Sam drove up to the high school along with the pups. It wasn't just Chase and Marshall that was with them. Out of the back, Skye, Rocky, Rubble, and Zuma jumped out to join them. They were at a graduation and quickly found their seats. "So, where's Ryder?" Rubble asked.
"He'll be out with the other graduates soon," Sam said. "They should be out at any minute."
After waiting for a short while, they could see the graduates walking out onto the stage. They could see Ryder in his graduation gown, he was the youngest and smallest student there. Despite this, he still felt proud of where he was.
After a few other names were called before it was Ryder's turn to receive his High School diploma. Once he did his parents cheered and clapped for him. The pups also cheered, barking and howling in delight. After that, the pups stopped paying attention to this as it was fairly boring.
"Marshall, did you get a new collar?" Skye asked. She and the pups looked at the yellow collar around the Dalmatian's neck.
"Thanks. Ryder said he was working the pup tag," Marshall explained.
"Yeah, he said something about my tag getting an upgrade too," Chase added. "This one is only a prototype after all."
"Um, excuse me," spoke a voice. The pups looked to see Mayor Goodway walking beside them, along with the chicken still in her purse. Ryder's parents also took notice of her presence too.
"Mayor Goodway?" Owen questioned. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to see, Ryder, remember?" she said.
"Oh yeah," Chase said. He looked to Marshall, who nodded in agreement as they started remembering something the other four pups didn't.
"What are you guys talking about?" Rubble asked.
"I was impressed with the technology that Ryder was able to build," Goodway explained, "So I was thinking we could use it for emergency rescue services."
"Wow, weally?" Zuma asked.
"Yes, we only had brief ideas talked about recently, but we haven't figured out a good location."
"Do you still have those photos of places that could be used?"
"They're on my phone. I'll show them once Ryder is done with his ceremony."
A short while later, Ryder joined up with Mayor Goodway, his parents, and the pups so they could plan out the new rescue team. They scrolled through various buildings until they saw the old lookout. "Wait, what about that?" Rubble asked.
"Oh, the lookout?" Mayor Goodway asked. "It's just been in the way. I think one company was looking to tear it down."
"But I've seen it, and it could help give a better view of the city. Not to mention it's near the center and just needs some repairs."
The pups looked at the building and thought it looked a little shabby. "I say it needs a complete rebuild," Rocky noted.
"It's not too bad. All the walls are still standing and the only holes I can see are the broken windows."
"Rubble's right," Ryder commented. "This doesn't seem to be too hard to fix up."
"But who will run this new team?" Skye asked.
"I think that's what Ryder's been wanting to share with you," Sam noted. She showed a small box that she gave to her son. Ryder opened it up and revealed a badge-shaped tag that had a police star on a blue background.
"Here's your new pup tag, Chase," he said. He removed the German shepherd's collar so he could remove the prototype tag so the new one could be added.
As the collar was put back on Chase's neck, Marshall was curious. "Is my tag in there?" the Dalmatian asked.
"You mean this tag?" Ryder revealed a second tag with had a flame on it with a red background. Marshall's tail started wagging as the tag was attached to his collar.
"So, you just bwought that to your gwaduation so they can have new collaws?" Zuma asked.
"They're probably not the only two getting pup tags," Ryder noted. He showed four collars that were in the box, each one having a different pup tag. A wrench, a recycling symbol, an anchor, and a propeller. The four stray pups were surprised when they saw these.
"Are these for us?" Skye asked.
"If you want them."
"I don't get it, why us?" Rocky asked.
"You did help save us from the balloon," Goodway noted, "Not to mention your quick thinking with the bus."
"We went over the actions you pups did and figured out what positions you could play on the team," Ryder added.
"So do those propellers mean I get to fly?" Skye asked.
"If you're up for the challenge." Skye immediately ran up to the pink color and picked it up before walking closer to Ryder. The boy chuckled as he placed the collar around the cockapoo's neck.
"I have a feeling that green tag will be for me," Rocky commented.
"You managed to make a jetpack out of cardboard and soda bottles," Ryder noted, "With better tools and materials I'm pretty sure you'll be able to create amazing things."
Rocky liked this idea as he had his new collar placed around his neck as Rubble and Zuma walked up. "I call dibs on the anchow," Zuma proclaimed.
"Okay, take it easy. I was saving this one for you." Zuma gave giving the collar with the orange pup tag as this just left the yellow one for Rubble to wear.
"This is great!" Rubble proclaimed. "Does this mean we're going to be staying with you?"
"We'll make things work out," Ryder noted, "If reconstruction on the Lookout looks good, we might even be able to move into there."
"Now that would be cool!" Zuma commented.
"I'm sure you will all get along great," Mayor Goodway commented. "Have you ever thought of a name for this patrol?"
"Hmm, not quite sure about that," Ryder said. "I've been busy with my classes and the tags, I haven't had time to think a good name."
"What about something that starts with P like Patrol?" Marshall asked. "Like Protector Patrol, or… Piece Patrol."
"Those don't sound very exciting," Rubble commented.
"Yeah, we need something good to know people are in good hands," Skye said, "Or in good paws."
That gave Chase an idea. "Yeah, paw," he muttered. "Paw Patrol!"
"That's a great name," Ryder commented.
"Does roll off the tongue," Marshall added.
"I think you're on the right track to becoming a rescue team," Mayor Goodway commented. "Just a little bit of training and the right equipment I'm sure you'll be perfect."
"Oh we've already got the plans for the tools and vehicles," Ryder proclaimed.
"Awesome, can't wait to drive my own car," Rubble noted.
"It's going to more than just cars, you'll each have your own vehicle. I have a few sketches prepared."
"No way, let me see!" Rubble ran up to the boy who was just bringing out his notepad as the rest of the pups wanted to see what they would get. Sam, Owen, and Mayor Goodway were happy to see the pups' excitement.
"I think this team will get along just fine," Goodway commented.
"I think it's going to be more than a team," Sam commented. "We've just gotten new additions to the family." They simply sat back and listened to Ryder and the pups looking over the sketches of their new gear.