Chapter 4

When the Mighty Pups explained to Nathan and Bradley the whole situation involving the threats over Harold and Codi, particularly over how they would have used their respective objects to teleport or destroy Adventure Bay, they also mentioned the fact that the nano-probe had secretly filmed the argument between Harold and Codi. "But what we don't know," Rocky concluded, "is how the nano-probe got there in the first place."

"Do you want to know a secret?" Bradley replied. "And whatever you do, don't tell your enemies."

"Your secrets are safe with us!" Chase announced.

"Okay, cool. Even though Nathan and I are just voice-actors who do our fictional selves for the cartoon, in addition to me being the producer of the show, we had heard of the many battles you Mighty Pups have fought for the forces of good, including the times when you helped Sonic the Hedgehog defeat Dr. Eggman. So we decided that, to some extent, we should get in on the act. Why? Well, one of my fellow producers for the show accidentally stumbled across Harold working on his robot, and he was in Foggy Bottom because the route he took to drive home took him through Foggy Bottom. He stopped and said, 'Wait a minute. Isn't that Humdinger's nephew?' He drove off afterwards, and then gave me a phone call as soon as he got the car stopped in a safer place. You shouldn't use your phone when driving, after all."

"Right."

"So then I called your team lead here (Ryder) and clued him on what was happening. I think it helped that I had attended that gymnastics meet you pups participated in; congratulations on the victories you achieved, by the way."

"Oh, thank you!" Everest smiled. "That was a lot of fun, doing those events."

"I still can't believe I pulled off a gold on the horizontal bar," Marshall added. "This is different, though. This is racing at supersonic speeds in a hovercar."

"It is. Anyway," Bradley continued, "I called Ryder and let him know Harold was tinkering with his robot again. I wasn't sure what he was plotting, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what he was plotting."

"Harold has always wanted to be the mayor of something," Ryder put in, "but just because you're the mayor of a town does not mean you can boss everybody around with absolute authority. It's why Mayor Humdinger became the mayor of an empty town before he moved to Adventure City, and caused nothing but problems there. I vote Harold as the more likely of the two to succeed, but we'll still beat him in the end." The pups howled to agree with that statement. "Anyway, Bradley calls me, and we decide to work together on inventing the nano-probe. Then I took charge of installing it, and I even had Tuck help me find the spot."

"Mighty and small, I gave it my al!" Tuck cheered.

"So you put it there, dude?" Zuma asked.

"That's right, Zuma. And it's so tiny, Harold won't notice it. And even if he did notice it, he wouldn't be able to do anything about it."

As it turned out, Harold had discovered the nano-probe, but since he wasn't sure why it was there, he instead came to the conclusion that if his uncle ever broke out of prison, he could use it to spy on him so he could backstab him one more time.

"After we put the nano-probe in," Bradley continued, "we alerted Nathan to let him know what was happening."

"It doesn't help that I don't have superpowers myself," Nathan put in, "but we have to say, you Mighty Pups are a big inspiration to all of us. So we were hoping we could help out anyway we could. As a result, thanks to the nano-probe's camera action, I saw the video of the two arguing. I then got the idea to call Bradley's brothers, since they own the place here, and they got the idea use the virtual reality technology we have to allow you pups to defend your hometown from the villains."

"Works for us," said Rubble. "Uh, just one question. You said, 'Don't worry about your hovercars.' Why not?"

"Because the two of us actually collaborated with Ryder here to create these!" Nathan gestured towards part of the track as several of the staff brought in the special customized hovercars for the race, and each one was tailored to match the needs of each Mighty Pup. The pups gasped in awe at the pups and got excited.

Note that in the interest of fairness, Harold and Codi also had their own hovercars made for them.

Each pup was given a test run, doing time trials on Mute City I. Chase had the easiest time getting used to his car and how to steer it, while Marshall had the most difficulty. Eventually, he got the hang of it, and the pups cheered him on as he drove around the track for Mute City I. He felt a bit panicky, given the fact he kept bumping into the walls and losing power off his power meter, but he was able to finish the race with the bar at full health.

Each pup also learned about how finishing a lap granted them a Super Jet (the four-second voluntary speed boost), provided they were in a safe position.

The pups then did an exhibition race against one another around the track, but they weren't really trying to pass one another or make it really competitive. They were just getting used to their hovercars as they went around the track. (Note that Tuck and Ella actually shared one car, a reference to the car Ryder previously built for them that split into two motorcycles, and so only one pup could race for real, but both were given a time trial each. Tuck then raced in the exhibition race.) In the end, Tracker won the race. This was just for fun, though, so they didn't disqualify any pups for finishing under the limit (although the screens demonstrated to the pups what it looked like if they were to be disqualified).

"So here's how we are going to do the competition, and we've already explained this to Harold and Codi, because we're keeping our eyes on them," Nathan explained when he was able to talk to the pups again. "It'll be a team competition, so to speak, even though in the case of Harold and Codi, they just have themselves. If Harold's uncle and his kittens were here, they'd get to race, too, but they aren't. They're still in prison. Anyway, to keep things fair and square, we'll have one and only one pup from you Mighty Pups racing against a fleet of opponents, two of which will be Harold and Codi. The object of the race for you is to ultimately finish third or better, because if you don't, you're out of the race, and you don't score any points."

Bradley chimed in at this point, alternating parts of the explanation with Nathan. "To stay in the race, you must finish in 15th place or better at the end of the first lap, or you're out of the race. The second lap will require you to be tenth place or better; the third lap, seventh; the fourth lap, fifth, and for the fifth and final lap, third or better. And you don't get a retry like in the video game. One go; one attempt. That's all you get. Got it?"

"Got it!" the pups replied in unison.

"Good. 15 points will be given to you if you win, 10 points for a place (second), and 5 points for a show (third). We'll add your points together over all three leagues: knight, queen, and king, and whoever wins the most points wins the entire competition, with the grand prize, in your case, being the fact you kept Adventure Bay out of the hands of Harold Humdinger or Codi Gizmody."

"The rest of the opponents are AI-controlled, so think of it as playing a video game against the computer," Nathan continued. "Of course, they'll be trying to bump you and push you into the walls and other booby-traps around the tracks, even if you're in the energy pit stop to replenish your energy. It is there for you. Please do not forget about it."

"Now here is the most important part to remember; the less power you have, the slower you go. And if your power meter gets completely empty, KER-BLAM! Your car blows up! If you run into a car in the danger zone of its power meter and it blows up, you also lose a significant amount of power."

The pups gasped at that statement, even though they knew it was true. After they came back to their senses, Skye commented, "That explains why Mayor Goodway was so upset about Harold and Codi suggesting this. I think she thinks we're actually going to get killed."

"And with no PAW Patrol to protect Adventure Bay, Codi could easily demolish it and make her own town," Chase added.

"Oy-oy-oy!" Tracker winced. "We can't let that happen!"

"As hosts, we have to be impartial," said Bradley, "but we are allowed to interact with you. I play the role of a villain, so I will be coaching them, so to speak, even though I'll really be watching to see if they cheat."

"Knowing them," said Ryder, "they would try to cheat."

"I'll be interacting with you," Nathan added. "Now let's determine which pup gets to race on which arena. This creates another problem, actually, because there are 10 of you pups, but there are only nine locations: Mute City, Big Blue, Sand Ocean, Death Wind, Silence, Port Town, Red Canyon, White Land, and Fire Field. Some arenas will have one race, some will have two, but Mute City has three. It is uneven. Harold and Codi will race each track because there's only one of them. Personally, they did not know what they were getting into when they agreed to this, because some of the format rules we are enforcing were their ideas."

"They may be dastardly villains," Rubble thought to himself, "but they at least are willing to play fair."

"So one of you pups will have to sit out, I'm afraid. I'll have each of you draw one playing card from the deck I am holding here. Lowest card is out. Suits don't matter; just the ranking."

"That's fair," said Rocky. "Uh, what direction are you going?"

"Aces are high, deuces are low. If there is a tie, we'll have the tied pups draw again. So an ace is higher than a king."

"Got it."

"Go ahead and pick a card for me, Rocky."

"Okay." Rocky did so after Nathan shuffled the deck, although he had to sit down on the grandstand seating to do so. The recycling pup drew a 7. Each of the other pups then drew their cards, and Tuck was unfortunately the unlucky one, having drawn a 2. "It's fair and square, though," he said. "I did the exhibition race, and so Ella can do the real thing."

"What wonderful sportsmanship," Ryder smiled. "You're all good pups!"

After the pups drew their cards, Nathan turned to each one with a unique card (after all tiebreakers were broken, and there were a few). "Chase, you drew the highest card, so that makes you the team captain. You get first choice of what arena you want to race in."

"It feels a bit unfair because some of us will race more than others, but if it is all right with you pups, I'll take Mute City."

"That work for you?" Bradley asked the pups. They all agreed that everything was fair and square, and so Chase got the go-ahead to do the three races of Mute City. "Each one is the very first race of the league, so you're setting the tone for your team," Nathan commented. "You sure you are okay with that?"

"Yes, sir; Nathan, sir!" Chase replied with authority. "Mighty Chase will put the enemy in place!"

"That's the spirit!"

"Zuma, you're next," Bradley continued. He showed each of the pups pictures of the other tracks, giving an explanation for each one's environment, and each pup decided to pick the track that was best for them.

"I love the water theme, dudes," Zuma smiled. "I'll do Big Blue."

"I think I'm going to go with Sand Ocean," Rubble added.

"I can control the weather with my powers, but I won't be able to do that here," Skye commented. "However, I will take on Death Wind."

"I'll do Silence," Ella volunteered. "I think it's the one Tuck would have done." Tuck nodded to confirm this.

"Haré la carrera que tendrá lugar en Port Town," Tracker spoke up. "I will do the race taking place at Port Town."

"I forgot you were bilingual," Nathan replied.

"Sí; I am."

"What about you, Rocky?" Bradley turned to the recycling pup.

"I think I'm going to go with Red Canyon," Rocky replied.

"And you, Everest?"

"Ice or snow, I'm ready to go! White Land!"

"The two White Land races are actually back-to-back. Is that all right with you?"

"It is. I'll give my enemies the big chill!"

"Guess that leaves me with Fire Field," Marshall concluded. "I'll bring on the heat!"

"All right!" Ryder cheered. "The Mighty Pups are on a roll!" The pups all cheered as they hyped themselves up for the competition.

The public would be invited to watch the proceedings from a special room in a different part of the arena, and so they went ahead and packed up to head to Kensington. All the while, Mayor Goodway said prayers asking for forgiveness for herself (as well as hoping the PAW Patrol would win the whole race). Jake got himself hyped up to see Everest crush it back-to-back; Carlos looked forward to watching Tracker, while Captain Turbot and Francois said their own prayers for the pups, and, as always seemed to be the case, Chickaletta wanted corn.

TO BE CONTINUED

PAW Patrol © Nickelodeon, Spin Master, and everybody else who owns the rights, and created by Keith Chapman.
The characters Nathan Nigelson (Nathan the Super Lion) and Bradley Barkus (General Braticus) are my original OCs. They belong to me and me alone, so do not even think about stealing them!
Sonic the Hedgehog © SEGA
Biker Mice From Mars © Rick Ungar (creator), Brentwood Television Funnies, and everybody else who owns the rights
F-Zero © Nintendo