Chapter 13 (Finale)

"Good news!" Hailey spoke into the camera as the pups received their prizes. "The Mighty Pups have done it again! They have protected Adventure Bay and our world from the dangerous threats of Harold Humdinger and Codi Gizmody, whom, as we speak, are being hailed as the two most dangerous child geniuses in the world! Yes; the world! Not just this country!"

The news cameras then caught sight of Goodway saying to everybody, "And on behalf of the world, and a very grateful Adventure Bay, and me personally as well, I wish to thank Ryder and the pups for saving us from those naughty kids."

"Yeah, dudes," Jake added. "You really saved the day on that one."

"You're welcome," Ryder replied. "Whenever your town is under attack from a super genius of any sort..."

"...just yelp for help!" all the pups and Ryder exclaimed in unison.

"So what do you plan to do with the money you won?" Hailey asked Ryder. "I can see it comes to a grand total of $11.5 million!"

"That's not for us; it's for Adventure Bay," Ryder replied. "The town can do whatever they want with it, provided they use it wisely."

To complete the 'F-Zero' experience, and so that they wouldn't be left out, Nathan and Bradley instituted a bonus round where both Ryder and Tuck got to race; however, they were just doing time trials with no opponents. Just them on the track, with the booby traps and pit stop in tact. Each one got to choose which track they wanted to race, and Tuck, showing how much he appreciated his twin sister, raced his time trial on Silence. Ryder had the computer pick a track at random for him, and he ended up with Big Blue. Each one still raced to finish in the fastest time they could, and they still had their Super Jets that they could use on each lap as they saw fit. Each one opted to use their Super Jets on each lap, and each one managed to get a good time.

For finishing with a time that made the top 5 lists (and the top 5 lists for each track were based on 20 other racers who raced the same tracks prior to the competition), there were extra bonus prizes: a game console with a collection of games (including the original "F-Zero") for Ryder, whose times was third place on the list, and special motocross (more resembling Supercross) gear for Tuck and his sister; his time was the best time on the list.

It was the next morning when the public was finally able to return home, and the day afterwards, it felt like a repeat of the first time the PAW Patrol battled Codi, because on that occasion, the entire squadron was called into action. The town held a big parade afterwards, and Mayor Goodway gave a similar speech to what she gave at the arena, with the PAW Patrol, all in unison, reminding everybody to yelp for help.

It was nice to be able to have a day or two here and there where there wasn't an emergency, or at least the type of emergency that required the pups to be Mighty Pups. Mr. Porter, for example, needed extra help the morning after the pups returned loading up some of his grocery delivery orders (one customer of which was Jake), and so the pups volunteered to help him with those chores. The difference was that Rubble didn't slip on a banana peel that was on the ground (which once happened to him after Rocky ate a banana and intended to throw away the peel, but missed; he would have picked it up and done so, but Rubble slipped on it first).

Meanwhile, Carlos and Tracker brought some more relics they found to the museum, while Everest and Skye played a round of Pup Pup Boogie, although without the "I Do, You Do" Bracelets. Everest hadn't quite mastered the game to the degree that Skye had, but she was getting better at it. "Do the Pup Pup Boogie!" Marshall sang as he watched the two play the game.

"Show them what you got, that pup, pup stuff!" Rubble echoed, using his disc jockey turntable.

It surprised Ryder and the pups to discover that they weren't needed to testify in court when came to time to officially pronounce the sentence on Codi Gizmody, but the live TV coverage of all the races from the "F-Zero" tournament were enough evidence to show what was going on. Codi had already sabotaged herself as it was by writing the contract in such a way as to rig the competition in her favor, but she admitted she never saw the staff and management of the arena change it. "I thought once you signed a contract, it was final," she said. (Note that the arena staff and management, as well as Nathan and Bradley, now appearing as their regular selves, were testifying against Codi.)

"In some cases, it is," said the judge, "but the fact of the matter is, you had no business writing a contract in the first place of any kind, because you wanted to rig the competition in your favor, which violates the rules and regulations of the Kensington Virtual Reality Arena. You're already a lawbreaker because you broke out of jail, you understand, but now, you're just adding salt to the wounds."

In the end, Codi got what was coming to her and then some. Her parents were allowed to apologize to her for not understanding how smart she really was, and they commented that they ultimately blamed themselves for everything that happened, and for failing (as they saw it) to raise her right. But even if they had got it right, she still would have turned out the way she did.

Harold, on the other hand, was just given a large number of hours of community service, since he just raced to claim the town for his own, and didn't actually have anything to do with actually writing the contract. He still wanted to be the mayor of something, it seemed, but the reputation that the Humdinger family had upon themselves was enough to ensure that would never happen. Only Helga had a clean slate, and she intended to keep it clean.

The pups did get a few more surprise visits later on, in the form of Sonic and his friends coming to see the town (as well as perform as their rock band for the town), and another visit from Nathan and Bradley, again appearing as their regular selves. "It's still a wonderful surprise," Rubble commented. "If you're a fan of Apollo the Super-Pup, you'll get to where you're a fan of Nathan the Super Lion!"

"I honestly wasn't expecting to see you two in town," Mayor Goodway added, since their appearance attracted a crowd, and the pups met them at City Hall. Coral, Rex, Liberty, and Al also stopped by to see what was happening, although Al couldn't stay long because he was driving his truck and doing his job.

"Well, we wanted to see the home of the Mighty Pups for ourselves; winning the 'F-Zero' tournament has made them worldwide superstars," Bradley announced. "Also note that we forgot something when we did the award ceremony, and we're slightly embarrassed by it, but it might have worked out for the better that we waited until now to do this."

"What would that be?"

"Although we awarded each of you who raced the appropriate medals depending on where you finished," Nathan added as he got the medals out, "these medals are to certify that you, the Mighty Pups, can officially say that each and everyone of you is an F-Zero master! A big congratulations to you from us, Captain Falcon, and the whole F-Zero crew." The crowds present broke into applause.

"Yes; thank you so much!" Skye smiled as each of the pups who raced in the tournament got a medal. While Coral, Rex, Liberty, and Al did not participate, the two hosts had souvenirs for them for being vocal supporters of the team.

The two hosts later got their own tour of Adventure Bay, starting with City Hall and the surrounding areas, going up to Jake's Mountain, down to the seaside pier where the pups would serve as the Sea Patrol (including the Sea Patrol HQ), and finally ending with the Lookout. While sitting down to rest after getting the tour of the Lookout, Ryder hooked up the console he won, and the pups took turns racing the tracks all over again, although this time it wasn't as intense since it was just the video game. The pups did a few time trials, including Tuck doing Silence again, before each pup then raced each Grand Prix, and each pup raced the same tracks they raced during the tournament to make it easier on them, and so Chase, for example, raced all three races at Mute City, while Marshall waited patiently to race Fire Field. "Too bad we can't do it with our custom cars," said Rocky.

"Not really," said Bradley. "Once you pick a car, you're stuck with it. However, you chose the Blue Falcon, so you pups get to be Captain Falcon. Sort of."

"I did have a question, though," Nathan put in. "What can you tell us about Codi Gizmody? I know she's gone now, but the news mentioned that she wanted to buy this town all for herself. Humans such as herself don't have the right to do that."

"Her story is a weird one," Ryder replied, "but it all began when wanted to buy the town in order to tear it down and establish her own dream city, which she would call 'Codi Cove,' almost a bit like how Dr. Eggman wants his Eggman Empire to expand to the four corners of the universe. Sonic is keeping him in line, though." He then told the whole story of how Codi attacked the town because Mayor Goodway wouldn't sell it to her, and the pups gave additional input. They tried to tell the story so that the pup whose turn it was to race wouldn't lose concentration, but on certain occasions, the pup whose turn it was to race was able to talk while racing.

"She is more dangerous than that Humdinger kid," Nathan commented. "I am amazed he didn't try to destroy your town."

"I think he thought it was too much trouble to do that, and he didn't want to bother building his own buildings, which is ironic, considering his superpowers, whenever he has them, allows him to build anything and everything." Ryder paused to clear his throat. "Sorry. So we can say the charges are going to be very harsh in the end." (Indeed, the sentence the judges gave to Codi included, but were not limited to, the following charges: public endangerment, kidnapping and attempted dognapping, threats to the city and to Mayor Goodway, attempted urbicide [meaning destruction of an entire city by one person or group] and vehicle vandalism, espionage, forcing Goodway to sign an illegitimate contract that would result in urbicide if kept the way it was, and now, breaking out of prison and more endangerment in the form of intentionally trying to knock Marshall out of the race, only to get beaten by him by just one thousandth of a second.)

Referring to Codi, Bradley asked, "May I ask you what happened to this person in the end?"

"She's back in prison," Marshall answered.

"For the rest of her life?"

"For 7,654 years," Chase put in.

"Really? That long?"

"Yes, sir; Bradley, sir."

"There's no parole or probation either. The judges may have overreacted," Skye commented, "but on the other hand, the PAW Patrol has always felt people should live to see the consequences of their actions, and she will live, knowing that she did this to us. Ultimately, she did it to herself."

"She did indeed. I wish she could have made the U-turn, personally."

"We do, too, but just like the Ruff-Ruff Pack, it wasn't going to happen," Zuma replied. "She's bad to the bone."

In the days that followed, the pups began to jokingly think of the music from the game as their new unofficial theme music, since Chase found himself humming the song from Mute City, and Zuma did likewise with Big Blue. When the pups, as anthro pups, got their musical instruments out, they tried to teach themselves the songs from the game. "It loops forever," Rocky commented, "so we have to figure out how to not make it sounds so repetitious."

"We can do that," said Rubble, "but for now, let's just work on getting the basic melody down." He took his tenor saxophone and tried to play the song from Sand Ocean by ear. Marshall then helped him by plunking it out on the keyboard.

Elsewhere, Sonic JAM (Sonic's rock band) also taught themselves the music from the game, done as a tribute to the Mighty Pups for winning the race.

All in all, it was a thrilling experience for the Mighty Pups, and the popular comic books that portrayed their likenesses used the tournament as an inspiration for a story. Harold and Codi, however, held a grudge for getting their butts kicked at the races, and vowed one day to plot their revenge.

Meanwhile, Mayor Goodway talked to a therapist to help her feel better about the whole thing, after getting some assurance that no charges would be pressed on her for signing Codi's contract, because the contract was null and void in the end. As for the others, life went on; Ryder and the pups did their duty and played together, inside and outside. Al and Yumi ran their farm, Mr. Porter ran his grocery store and restaurant, Danny (who preferred to called "Daring Danny X") continued doing wild stunts with little to no success (even though he was going viral for it), Alex went to school, Katie ran her pet parlor (with Cali occasionally getting crabby over getting wet), Jake and Everest ran the snowboard resort, Carlos and Tracker continued to explore the jungle for treasure, and Chickaletta, well, remained oblivious to absolutely everything.

THE END

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
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? © Sony Pictures Television, 2waytraffic, and everyone else who owns the rights
Biker Mice From Mars © Rick Ungar (creator), Brentwood Television Funnies, and everybody else who owns the rights
F-Zero © Nintendo