PAW Patrol (TAF): The Anthro Files
Mighty Pups, Charged Up!
Pups Vs. a High-Speed Humdinger

Chapter 1

To Mayor Goodway, Adventure Bay did not seem quite as adventurous as it used to be, but that was because the town wasn't seeing any of Mayor Humdinger's silly schemes, due to the fact he was sentenced to 540 years in prison. If the town had been under attack lately, it was actually because Dr. Eggman had been trying to expand his empire, and he ended up getting his butt kicked by both Sonic's team and the PAW Patrol. However, she didn't have a problem with it, because she was quite grateful that the town wasn't having those embarrassing circumstances. Still, she felt her city was "cursed with the curse of Mayor Humdinger," considering all the disasters that did happen since his arrest. Why? Well, for one thing, Harold Humdinger (the mayor's disobedient nephew) was still on the loose, although he hadn't done anything since the previous year, since his parents had grounded him until Christmas. ("We might as well ground him forever," they lamented when speaking to a marriage counselor, "because, truth be told, we just don't know what to do with him anymore.")

The town had also recently experienced the wrath of Codi Gizmody, which resulted in Ryder calling on the entire PAW Patrol (which included all four members of the Cat Pack). It even involved pups that the PAW Patrol once considered enemies: Arrby (pup assistant to Sid Swashbuckle) and Sweetie (royal pup to the Princess of Barkingburg; she had wanted the throne for herself, but to no avail). That battle ended with Codi getting transported to the Moon by her own Relocator, which should have sent Goodway and all people at the Lookout at the time to the Moon. (Codi did eventually return to Earth, but she, too, was tried and sentenced to over 500 years in prison for her crimes. Unlike Harold, Codi's parents disowned her and wrote her out of the will, although they included the fact she had blue hair as an excuse to disown her. "If that's what smart people become," another parent commented, "then I'd rather have stupid kids!")

Codi couldn't break out of prison no matter what she tried, though, because the maximum security prison she was in had electric fences all the way around, and anything she tried to touch that she wasn't allowed to touch gave her an electric shock.

But with Harold, it was a different story.

While helping Goodway do some outside maintenance with City Hall's lawns, Goodway asked Ryder and the pups, "Do you ever wonder if we'll ever experience some of those other villains? I've been having bad dreams lately, all of which involved those other villains actually causing us problems in the real world. Who would have thought something we'd only see in video games or on television would become reality?"

"BA-BUCK, BA-GERK!" Chickaletta clucked.

"I guess you've been having those dreams, too, Chickaletta?" the mayor commented. Chickaletta ignored the remark. (In reality, she just wanted some corn to eat.)

"I don't think you've got anything to worry about, Mayor Goodway," Ryder replied, "because the respective heroes are keeping them in line. But you're absolutely right. I never would have predicted such a thing would happen. There's even life on Mars; just not the way we imagined it once upon a time." (The Biker Mice from Mars had never been to Adventure Bay, but they were aware of the town from the national news; likewise, the town knew about them and their battles with Lawrence Limburger and the Caticonian Empire. Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends, however, were the most frequent guests to Adventure Bay as a result of Eggman wanting to build his empire.)

"What makes you think we're cursed with 'the curse of Mayor Humdinger?'" Rocky asked.

"I think I said that because of the town's history with him and all he did to upstage us so that all the glory would go to him, and it doesn't help that he pointed out to me that our first-ever mayor, Grover Goodway, looks exactly like him." The pups and Ryder looked at the statue and saw that this was so.

"Could that be a coincidence?" Skye asked.

"It probably is, but one thing is for sure: it's a disaster! Everything's a disaster!"

"Here she goes again," Chase thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Harold's parents were secretly wishing that their son wasn't the genius he was, echoing the false statement that it was better for somebody's kids to be stupid than smart, given how many smart kids were actually evil. It was a rising trend in the world, but just because one's child was smart didn't mean they were destined to be evil. Ryder was the prime example of that; he served the forces of good, and he was truly a genius with his own inventions. (Likewise, one could argue that Rocky was a genius in his own way.) In the end, however, they felt they only had themselves to blame for it, because they were constantly asking themselves, "Where did we go wrong?"

Harold, on the other hand, just ignored them and kept on plotting his own schemes to be mayor of everything, including Adventure Bay. "On the other hand," he said, "it's nice not to have my uncle gloating in my face. My plans are better than his ever were, because I'm a genius!"

The next morning almost didn't start without an emergency call (because the pups had eaten breakfast and done their morning routines), but thanks to the fact Ryder had all the pups trained to be as alert as the minutemen of Colonial America, they were up in an instant when Ryder slid his pup-pad out and changed the icon to the Mighty Pup symbol. Given the nature of the emergency, he also called in Everest, Tracker, and the twins, Tuck and Ella. (He did not call Rex or Al, however.)

"Mighty Pups, to the Lookout!" Ryder announced.

"Ryder needs us!" all the pups exclaimed in unison. They eagerly ran towards the Lookout with excitement, but as always seemed to be the case, they all crashed due to Marshall's clumsiness. This time, he tripped over a baseball, and as soon as everybody crashed, he yelled, "SAFE!" All the pups laughed as the elevator began to rise.

TO BE CONTINUED

PAW Patrol © Nickelodeon, Spin Master, and everybody else who owns the rights, and created by Keith Chapman.
Sonic the Hedgehog © SEGA
Biker Mice From Mars © Rick Ungar (creator), Brentwood Television Funnies, and everybody else who owns the rights
F-Zero © Nintendo