Season 2 Episode 18: Pup For A Day! The Truth About Ryder!

March 9th, 2030

Ryder, Wild, and the pups were looking up at the stars. "Meow-wow! This is one amazing view!" Wild exclaimed as they stood on the Lookout balcony.

"I know! It's so beautiful!" Skye sighed, her paw on top of Chase's as she and the German Shepherd gazed into the sky.

"I'm really happy that I get to share this with you, Skye." Chase dreamily said as he stared into the twinkling sky.

Marshall chuckled as he gave Chase a brotherly noogie. "You're lucky you get to spend it with your mate! Everest was busy today, so she couldn't come and watch the stars with me. Wish our relationship wasn't long distance." Marshall commented.

"Aww, don't worry, Marshall, dude! Distance doesn't matter as long as the two of you still care about each other!" Zuma reminded his bro.

Marshall smiled at that. "Thanks Zoom." Marshall sighed warmly, calling the Labrador by his nickname affectionately.

"I can see so many constellations! The Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the Big and Little Dipper! It's amazing!" Rocky mused.

Tuck and Ella were amazed by the starry sights, as they hadn't seen a sight like this before when they lived out on the streets.

All of a sudden, Rubble barked excitedly. "Ryder, look! A shooting star! Make a wish on it, make a wish on it!" Rubble suggested, pointing out a light that was streaking through the skies.

Ryder smiled as he saw how happy his pups were together. "Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight: I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight. I wish that I could know what it is like for my pups! They're so happy with their lives... I just want to experience that, for one day." Ryder whispered as the shooting star passed through the sky.

"What did you wish for, Ryder?" Tuck asked.

"Yeah, tell us! We wanna know!" Ella added.

Ryder giggled at their enthusiasm. "I made a wish to know what it's like for you pups! You're all so happy all the time, and I kind of envy you for that. I guess that wish could be me wanting to see what being a pup for a day would be like." Ryder explained with a grin on his face.

"Sometimes, I wonder what it'd be like to be human!" Rubble exclaimed.

"You'd want to be human? Why?" Wild asked the bulldog.

"Well, humans get to eat a ton of things! I wanna try them! A lotta stuff is unhealthy for us canines. Like chocolate!" Rubble answered.

Everyone laughed at that, before Ryder let out a yawn. "It's getting pretty late, PAW Patrol. We should get to bed." Ryder reminded the group.

Chase sleepily nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm a bit tired. I'll see you in the morning, everyone!" Chase tiredly told them before taking the elevator to his pup house.

Ace was out of town getting some more parts for the Air Patroller, so it was just Ryder and the PAW Patrol members minus Alex and Ben.

Ryder's eyes fluttered shut as he started to sleep. When he woke up, he felt it was harder to breathe, and he was encased in darkness. He felt like there was something heavy on top of him, and he started to thrash around, yelling for help. "HELP! HELP! CHASE? MARSHALL?! ANYONE?!" The seventeen year old shouted desperately.

The pups were woken up by Ryder's muffled cries for help and immediately sprung into action. "RYDER!" They all shouted as they ran inside and went to Ryder's room on the second floor, quickly taking the elevator to that point. When the glass doors opened, they ran into Ryder's bedroom and saw a large lump underneath the blanket. Reacting instinctively, Chase, Marshall, Skye, and Rocky bit down on the covers and pulled with all their might to get the blanket off of the bed.

Once the blanket was off, Rubble and Zuma leapt onto the bed, seeing the lump was covered in Ryder's shirt, pants, and underwear. Dragging the pants and underwear off of the bed, the lump in Ryder's shirt crawled out of the clothing to reveal itself as a mix of a Doberman, German Shepherd, and Labrador. "P-pups?! Why are you so much bigger?" The canine asked fearfully in Ryder's voice.

Everyone gasped as they heard Ryder's voice come from this new dog. Was it possible?! "Ryder, is that you!?" Rocky asked.

"O-of course it's me, Rocky! Who else?!" Ryder argued.

"I can't believe it!" Rubble yelped.

"Neither can we!" The twins yipped.

"WHAT!? What can't you believe!?" Ryder questioned worriedly.

"There's no easy way for us to tell you this, Ryder…" Skye nervously began.

"You've turned into…" Marshall continued.

"A PUP! You've become a pup!" Chase finished.

Looking down at his feet and seeing that they were paws, Ryder took in a shocked breath as he turned to see his body was all furry.

"No way… the wish I made on that shooting star last night came true! I became a pup!" Ryder howled ecstatically.

He took a step forward before tripping and tumbling off of the bed, nearly landing on Wild by accident. "Ryder, careful! I know it's pretty clawsome that the shooting star wish turned you into a puppy like you wanted, but you gotta keep yourself coordinated!" Wild told the former human.

"Sorry Wild- oof!" Ryder started to apologize, taking a step forward before slipping and landing flat on his face again.

"Maybe you could um, teach me how to get around, Wild?" Ryder suggested sheepishly.

Wild shook his head no with a frown on his face. "Sorry Ry! I'm a cat, not a dog. I don't think I can teach a pup how to walk." Wild sadly answered.

Skye hopped off of the bed and did a backflip in front of Ryder. "Don't worry, Ryder! This puppy's going to teach you how to move it!" Skye comforted him.

"Thanks, Skye." Ryder gratefully said, trying to take another step forward and face planting again.

Skye nodded her head in understanding. "I see the problem here! You're lifting both of your front paws when you try to take a step! Instead of that, you need to move your paws one at a time!" Skye instructed.

Ryder tried to follow her advice, but ended up tripping again. "Maybe his body coordination as a human is messing with his puppy movements?" Rocky theorized.

"Let's try a technique that Ace gave me! Okay Ryder, focus all of your thoughts and energy towards putting your front left paw ahead of the front right paw." Skye started to inform Ryder of a new method. Ryder started to concentrate on the two paws in the front, the ones that would have been his arms if he were human. "Close your eyes, take in deep breaths, and then lift that left paw up." Skye directed. Squeezing his eyelids shut, Ryder lifted up one of his paws and stopped. "Now, move it forward. Place it down on the ground ahead. Then do the same thing with the right paw." Skye continued. Nodding his head, Ryder continued to follow Skye's advice and repeated the process several more times. "Okay, now open your eyes, and try to do it with them open!" Skye finished.

Ryder put one paw in front of the other, and started to walk. "Yes! I can walk now! Skye, thank you so much!" Ryder cheered. Then his stomach growled. "Guess learning how to walk as a pup has made me hungry, heh heh!" Ryder chuckled.

Then he realized what that meant. Now that he was a pup, he couldn't eat the regular meals he usually snacked on! He would have to eat… pup food! Ryder shook his head nervously as Rubble giggled. "Awesome! I'll get a bowl of pup food for you, Ryder!" Rubble promised as the group went to the ground floor in the elevator.

"Um, Rubble? I'm not so sure about eating pup food…" Ryder anxiously said.

"You're not!? Why?!" Rocky asked as the elevator went down.

"Aww, but pup food is the best!" Rubble whimpered.

"Yeah, Ryder, it's really good for us! What's got you so hesitant?" Marshall added.

Ryder blushed as he was about to admit a particularly embarrassing secret. "Well, one time, I kind of wondered what it would taste like, and I gave it a try… no offense, but it tasted disgusting." Ryder revealed.

Tuck and Ella giggled. "But that was when you were a human!" Ella pointed out.

"Yeah, now that you're a dog like us, your taste buds will be different too! What might have tasted good to you as a boy could taste bad to you as a pup, or it could even hurt you!" Tuck commented.

Ryder sighed and hung his head down low. "I know… it's just getting me anxious. What if it tastes as bad as it did the first time?" Ryder murmured worriedly.

Rubble thought for a second before coming up with an idea. "Oh, I know! You can eat the pup toppings that we use for our pizzas instead! We got liver bites, sausage nuggets, and pepperoni chews!" Rubble offered.

Ryder smiled and let out a sigh of relief. That felt a LOT more comforting and sounded more appetizing than the brown kibble that he usually gave the pups. "Thanks, Rubble." Ryder happily said. Rubble ran over to the dispensers and pulled the levers on it, the machine pouring out a sizable pile of each topping for Ryder to eat. Hesitantly taking a bite out of the liver bites, Ryder was surprised to have a delicious taste in his mouth. It reminded him of the liver sausages he would sometimes eat with the pups, but even better. Then he gave the pepperoni chews a try, and his mouth was filled with savory goodness. Taking a chomp out of the sausage nuggets gave him a similar warm and happy feeling. Excitedly, he began to devour the pup pizza toppings, ravenously eating them and enjoying the flavors. "Wow Rubble! This is amazing!" Ryder exclaimed.

"Told ya it tasted good!" Rubble snickered.

"I can smell a lot more than I ever could before! It's like… it's like I can smell colors!" Ryder mused. Waddling over to the closet, he sniffed the bag that he had taken to Katie's. "I can smell Katie's perfume! It smells really sweet!" Ryder exclaimed.

Chase walked over and then he sneezed. "Achoo! Smells of cat as well…" The German Shepherd sniffled.

"Sorry, that's probably me and Callie. I rode in that bag when Ryder took me to Katie's clinic for a checkup." Wild apologized.

Now that Ryder had eaten, he was full of energy. He felt charged up! His paws started to tap against the ground. "Seems like some pup is raring to go!" Marshall chuckled.

Ryder nodded his head in agreement.

"I feel like I could run a marathon! Is this how energetic you all normally feel?" Ryder wondered.

"You bet! Race ya!" Marshall then challenged, and the two pups bounded out of the Lookout lobby. After a solid twenty minutes of running around outside, the two collapsed and rolled around in the dirt.

"That was amazing! And I'm not even that tired!" Ryder shouted enthusiastically.

Zuma came up to them, giving Ryder some licks. "Not that tired, huh? Does that mean you wanna play some more?" Zuma offered.

"Sure! What can we play?" Ryder asked. Zuma pointed at Ryder's tail, which was wagging like crazy. "Duuude, I know! I dare you to try and catch your tail!" Zuma snickered with a smile on his face.

Ryder blushed, but went for it anyway. That tail was whipping around like a rope, and he circled around trying to catch it! This continued for another half hour, and Ryder was worn out. Tuck and Ella started to play freeze tag with Ryder, and Ryder was enjoying himself like never before. "So… this is what it's like to be a pup. I love it! I'm happier than ever before!" Ryder cheered.

Chase stopped in his tracks when he heard that from Ryder. "D-does that mean you're not happy when you're a human?!" Chase asked.

Ryder's mouth gaped as he realized he had slipped up. Marshall, Skye, Rocky, Zuma, and Rubble came running to Chase, and they frowned. "You're not happy when you're you, Ryder? Is… is that why you made the wish to be a pup?" Skye inquired, a sad expression on her face.

Frozen up, Ryder couldn't do anything but slowly nod his head to confirm Skye's question. "W-why aren't you happy, dude? Is… is it because of us? Do we not… do we not make you happy?" Zuma sniffled, tears starting to well up in his eyes.

"No, no, no! No! Not at all, Zuma! You guys have helped me and made me happier than I could ever have asked for. It's… it's why I've stuck around this long. I'm here today because of you pups, and Ben." Ryder answered.

"Then why aren't you happy when you're your usual human self, Ryder? We have to know!" Marshall pleaded.

Ryder took a deep breath and sighed. He had to come clean. "...I get tired of having to help everyone in Adventure Bay… I get tired of having to shoulder so much responsibility for this town alongside Ben." Ryder mumbled.

"Tired of helping…? But Ryder, you love helping people! You formed the Paw Patrol because you wanted to help people!" Chase protested.

"I know, I know! But sometimes I wish people could help themselves! Like Mayor Goodway and her chicken! Can't she figure out how to get Chickaletta down from a tree on her own? Can't Alexander Porter learn from his past mistakes and not do something stupid that could get him hurt!? Can't Harold mind his own business and not cause trouble here!? It gets so exhausting to have to help everyone over and over and over!" Ryder vented.

"Does Ben know…?" Rubble wondered. The bulldog whined as he thought about how Ryder wasn't happy, and all of the Paw Patrol members present couldn't help but feel guilty.

"Yeah, he knows some of it. He doesn't know about everything regarding the way I feel. I'm supposed to be the leader, and I have so much to handle! I have to keep my emotions constantly under control! Do you know how hard it is to not get upset at Mayor Goodway when she calls to have us help her get Chickaletta down from somewhere for the eighth time in a single week!? It's maddening! But I can't get upset, because if I do, then our reputation takes a dive and the people might not think of us as well anymore!" Ryder ranted.

"Your anger isn't the only thing that you keep locked away, is it Ryder?" Ella questioned.

Ryder shook his head. "Of course not. I have to keep the appearance of being calm and collected for you guys! You think I'm a hero, but I'm really just a scared teenager who has only a partial idea of what he's doing! The people of this town rely on me, and you pups look to me for leadership! If I show you that I'm afraid, then you guys might get scared and start to doubt yourself!" Ryder shouted.

He started to feel tears streaming down his face as he continued to let everything out. "I've had to do that so much, locking away my emotions, that it's become a habit! I do it almost all the time now! I force myself to be happy and confident all the time, I push away any other emotion that isn't worry or happiness or enjoyment! It hurts! That's why I made a wish on that stupid shooting star, so I could escape all that and be myself for one day!" Ryder sobbed.

"...Pups, I think we have a lot to discuss. Can we talk to you later, Ryder?" Rocky asked worriedly.

All of the pups looked hurt and upset that Ryder hadn't told them about how he really felt. "Y-yeah. I'm sorry. I… I just didn't want you to lose faith in me as your leader!" Ryder sniffled.

"Ryder, a good leader doesn't keep this sort of stuff from his team! HE TELLS THEM ABOUT IT!" Chase snarled.

"You didn't trust us enough to confide in us?!" Marshall growled.

"We're your FAMILY!" Skye angrily said.

"Yeah! We would have kept your secret from everyone else, no matter what!" Rocky roared.

"You didn't realize that not telling us seriously hurts?!" Rubble yipped in frustration.

"...I think my heart's been broken into a million pieces by you, dude…" Zuma sniffled. He then ran away, bawling his eyes out.

The rest of the six main pups shot angry looks at Ryder before running after their brother. "What have I done…?" Ryder moaned.

Tuck, Ella, and Wild suddenly vanished, nowhere to be found. Storm clouds gathered overhead as Ryder started to run after his pups, who had already vanished out of sight. "Chase! Marshall! Skye! Everyone! Come back, please!" Ryder begged as he ran through the grass.

Sprinting as fast as his little four paws could take him, he no longer felt rejuvenated and happy. His wish had gone horribly wrong. He had unveiled his biggest secret, and the pups hated him now. He had to apologize, he had to make it up to them! He had to set things right! "Ryder, Paw Patrol, help! Chickaletta wandered off in the forest and I can't find her!" Mayor Goodway's voice cried out worriedly.

Ryder groaned as he heard that, looking around for the mayor but not seeing her anywhere. "ALL RIGHT! I'll find your chicken! But I have to find my pups first!" Ryder yelled into the sky, which then began to shower tons of rain down on the earth. Darting through the downpour, Ryder soon came to the clearing where Little Hootie lived. "Lil Hootie? Have you seen Chase?" Ryder pleaded as he went up to the tree trunk where Chase's owl friend lived.

"HOO HOO! HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The owl shrieked as it turned its head around to give him a cold stare with glowing yellow eyes. Startled by it, Ryder backed away and felt a beak pressing into his side, further frightening him. Spinning around, he saw that Chickaletta was standing in front of him, and somehow they were at the edge of a cliff. The other six pups came running towards him with a worried expression.

The mayor's treasured purse pet gave Ryder an evil stare before pecking the ground, and a sickening crack was heard as a line appeared where Chickaletta had stabbed her beak into the ground.. The line grew until it covered the entire cliff edge that Ryder was standing on. All of a sudden, the cliff face gave way and collapsed.

"RYYYYYYYYYYYYYDDDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEERRRRRRRR! NNNNNNOOOOOOOO!" The six pups exclaimed as the cliff face broke off and Ryder fell off of the ground.

Tumbling and hurling through the air, he saw the ocean grow nearer and nearer. A drop from this height, with a body this small… it would be a guaranteed death when he hit the water. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Ryder screamed as he plummeted towards the ocean's surface, closing his eyes as he didn't want to see his end.

"RYDER! RYDER! RYDER, WAKE UP!" Chase's voice shouted.

All of a sudden, Ryder opened his eyes, and jolted up. He wasn't falling towards the ocean! Looking down at his body, he was relieved to see his hands and legs. "I'm me again!" Ryder exclaimed.

"Ryder, what are you talking about!? We heard you screaming and we all ran in here, we were so worried! We thought that someone was attacking you or something!" Marshall worriedly told him.

Ryder took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes, seeing that Chase, Rocky, Rubble, Zuma, Skye, Marshall, Tuck, Ella, and Wild were all on his bed, looking at him with scared expressions on their faces. They looked like they had the daylights spooked out of them! "Did… Were my screams really that loud?" Ryder asked. All the Paw Patrol members present nodded their heads yes.

"Sorry that I woke you up, everyone. I had a dream where I turned into a pup, but then… it turned into a nightmare!" Ryder apologized for disturbing their sleep.

"A nightmare!? It must have been weally scawy!" Zuma gaped.

Ryder chuckled nervously as he nodded. "It started out fun, but that nightmare was the most terrifying one I've ever had in my entire life!" Ryder replied. And it WILL come to life if you don't come clean! Ryder's thoughts roared at him. "Pups…? Can I talk to you? This is really important." Ryder asked.

"Of course Ryder! We're all really nervous right now, so we aren't going to get back to sleep for quite a while." Skye answered.

Taking in a deep breath, Ryder began to give all the details of the secrets he had been hiding. How he had been keeping his emotions bottled up, how he had been wearing a mask of calm and collectedness. Revealing the truth that he hadn't truly been as happy as he had appeared to the pups. That he regretted not telling everyone about his emotions.

When he was finished telling everyone about his dream, and the truth about how he felt, the pups just sat there in shock. "Do… you pups hate me now?" Ryder softly asked after taking a drink of water.

"Hate you!? We could never hate you!" Chase exclaimed, tackling Ryder and giving him licks.

"Yeah, we're a little upset that you didn't tell us, but nothing could ever make us hate you, Ryder!" Marshall reassured, joining Chase in the pile.

"Yeah! I only wish you had told us sooner!" Skye exclaimed as she joined her two brothers.

"Ryder, it's really not healthy to keep in your emotions like that!" Rocky scolded his owner as he wormed his way into the cuddle pile.

"Yeah dude, it could weally hurt you!" Zuma added.

"That must have been one scary dream! I'm sorry you had to go through that, Ryder." Rubble said as he leapt onto the pile.

Tuck and Ella sat on his legs. "Ryder, don't keep stuff like that from the rest of us in the future, okay?" Ella worriedly sighed.

"Yeah! We're family, Ryder! You're kind of like our dad, along with Ben. Family shouldn't have to keep secrets from each other." Tuck commented.

"Yeah! You're one of the two most clawsome humans I've ever met, Ry! If you ever feel down, then feel free to talk to me, or any of the pups!" Wild chuckled as he took a seat at the foot of the bed to not agitate Chase's cat allergy.

Ryder and Chase yawned. As the pups sat on Ryder, the seventeen year old couldn't help but smile as his eyes fluttered shut. "Night dad." Chase whispered as he closed his eyes and drifted off.

At that moment, Ryder felt truly blessed to have a group of canines like the PAW Patrol as his family.

So... it's finally here.

This is the first original episode I've written for Rescue Force. There is no canon counterpart to this episode: it is based on a popular fan-requested idea for the show to do an episode on, which is Ryder transforming into a pup.

As I was writing Season 2, I realized that I hadn't taken much time to focus on Ryder, and so I rectified that with this episode. This dream served as a way to explore Ryder's inner thoughts and turmoil.

Hell, I have a group chat in my Discord DMs that was created for the purpose of discussing this episode.

The friends I've made in the PAW Patrol community have helped me become a better person and I'm happy to say that Rescue Force will continue for a long while.

Bi-weekly uploads will continue for quite a while, stay tuned for more of Rescue Force!