Chapter 12: Can We Make It In Time? The Snowy Savior, PAW Patrol Cyan!
October 4th, 2029
Ben patted Alex on the head. "Okay, Alex, me and Ryder are going to visit a friend really far up north. You're going to stay here with Katie for today. Do you promise to be nice to Katie and Callie while me and Ryder are gone?" Ben asked. They were going to go and see Jake, who was watching penguins in the snowy area north of Adventure Bay. Farther north than his mountain. Alex was too young to go up to that place, and with his pure white coat of fur, he could easily get lost.
"Yup. Promise." Alex murmured. The wolf cub gave Ben a loving lick before running off to Katie and circling her legs. In the past two days, Alex's vocabulary had improved greatly. He was now able to call Ben, Ryder, and the pups by name, and also had gotten the grasp of many words.
"I really appreciate this, Katie. I'll pay you when I come and pick him up." Ben gratefully told the young veterinarian girl.
"Oh, it's not a problem, Ben! I've known you and Ryder since we were in kindergarten! Plus, the PAW Patrol has helped Callie out several times. Anything I can do to help!" Katie earnestly replied.
Ben's phone vibrated and he pulled it out- it was a text from Ryder. "Well, that's my cue to get going. I'm driving everyone up there in the Patroller. We finished putting some upgrades on it so that the pup vehicles can deploy from inside." Ben sighed as he waved Katie and Alex goodbye before sprinting out of the pet salon/vet clinic and hopping on his motorcycle, driving back to the Lookout.
Once he got back to the Lookout, he saw Ryder putting his helmet on and putting the keys in for his ATV. "Where are the pups, Ryder? Minus Alex, of course. I just dropped him off at Katie's." Ben asked.
"They're out racing in the dry rocky area outside Adventure Bay. They wanted a large open area so they could race their vehicles! And it's already on the way to the penguin zone, which is where Jake is at." Ryder explained.
Ben nodded his head and got in the PAW Patroller's driver seat. They had plans to create a robotic pup that would drive the vehicle for them, but they were still struggling with getting the AI functional. Neither Ben nor Ryder had much experience with artificial intelligence. Until their metallic mutt companion was operational, they'd have to drive the PAW Patroller themselves.
Ben stuck a little bit behind Ryder so that he could surprise the pups. After about an hour or so of driving, they got to the desert area. Ben saw Ryder hop off the ATV and talk to the pups, so he waited for Ryder to give a signal. When he pulled the pup pad out and pressed a button, the Patroller honked, and that was the signal. Ben drove into the view of the pups, drifting and doing a fancy driving move like in Mario Kart before stopping.
"Say hello to the PAW Patroller!" Ryder announced. Though Ben couldn't make out what the pups were saying, he could tell just from the way they looked that they were extremely excited and impressed. Ben opened up the back door of it, revealing that the puphouses the team hadn't taken out on their trip were inside.
"It gets even cooler!" Ben hollered as he pressed a button, causing the side of the massive van to open up and become an entrance ramp. Ryder and the pups entered an area with cushions, a pup treat container, and a big screen. "This is the lounge area, complete with a snack machine, cushions, and a massive monitor to play games like Pup Pup Boogie on. Not only that, but the front area doubles as a mobile command center! There's room up top for my motorcycle and Ryder's ATV as well!" Ben explained to all of the canines. Many astonished voices and barks were heard.
As the six of them jumped on the couches in front, Ryder revealed that area was for when he had to give out assignments. "Ben!? You're driving?" Rubble gasped.
"Sure as heck am! Someone's gotta drive this thing." Ben chuckled, before honking the horn and making all the pups howl in delight.
The group loaded their vehicles onto the PAW Patroller when Ryder got a call from Jake. "Now watch this!" Ryder proudly said as he took the call. The big screen flashed up, and Ryder pressed a finger to the massive monitor to bring up Jake's face cam. "Hey, Jake. How's the big trip going?" Ryder asked.
"It's going amazing! Check it out!" Jake ecstatically replied, turning his screen so they could see all of the penguins.
"Aww, penguins!" Skye squealed, finding the feathered black and white birds cute.
"Oh, you'll see tons more when you and the pups get out here to the ice field." Jake promised.
"Awesome! The map's up on the screen right now- we input your phone signal into the navigator. That will make it easy to find you." Ryder responded.
"Totally! And bring lots of eats. You get seriously hungry out here. Speaking of, time for a tasty granola bar snack." Jake remarked, setting his phone down in his backpack so he could get a snack.
Grabbing a granola bar, they saw Jake slip, and kick his backpack. "Uh oh!" Chase exclaimed.
"Poor Jake!" Rubble sadly said as they saw Jake grow farther and farther away, before a splashing noise was heard as they saw Jake sitting on the edge of an ice cliff. Then the signal cut out, probably because the phone had gotten wet.
"Jake's in big trouble!" Marshall cried out.
"Don't worry, we're on our way." Ryder reassured the pups as he shared a worried glance with Ben. Ben did not like the expression in Ryder's eyes. Usually when they received a call for help, Ryder remained calm and collected. It was one of the things that kept the team together and sturdy under duress. Now, that composure was showing signs of breaking. If Ryder was worried… then Ben was starting to wonder how good their chances were of succeeding.
Failure was something the PAW Patrol had never had to comprehend after Marshall had joined. The only times their rescues hadn't worked out was when it was just Ben, Chase, and Ryder. "Ben, time to pedal to the metal." Ryder commanded.
"You got it, Ryder." Ben immediately answered, slamming his foot on the gas pedal as they accelerated.
"But the phone fell in the water. And that's the signal we're using to track him!" Rubble pointed out.
"We saved his location on the map. The computer will give us the directions to get there." Ryder reminded the group. It was a long two and a half hour drive to where the computer had stored Jake's location. Ben was afraid of the pups hearing his next question, so he lowered his voice to nearly a whisper for this.
"Ryder, if Jake is stuck out there, he's going to have to deal with the elements, risking hypothermia, and the backpack probably had all of his food and drinking water. Now, he can survive for a few days without food and water, but the hypothermia could easily do him in. Tell me the truth. How good do you think our chances are of pulling this off?" Ben asked, his voice barely audible.
Ryder looked aghast, broken. "I… I don't know, Ben." He quietly responded.
"Don't give up hope, Ryder. We're the PAW Patrol. We won't give up on Jake, and we're going to save him." Ben promised. Times like these were when Ben had to step up and fill in Ryder's shoes. That idea scared him. Occasionally during the drive, Zuma or Rubble would make a comment. That fit, since they were the youngest members. It was reassuring to have them break the silence every now and then.
At one point, they drove over a frozen lake, and Ben had to put all of his driving skills to use, making a risky jump over a crevasse before getting back to the road. Finally, they arrived at where Jake's phone had given its last signal. "We're here, pups. We made it. According to the map, Jake called us from right around here." Ryder announced as everyone got out of the PAW Patroller.
"No Jake in sight." Chase noted. Ryder seemed to freeze up at that response.
"He's probably taken shelter somewhere to get out of the storm. Let's find him. All paws and hands on deck. Our friend is in trouble, and he's counting on us to find him!" Ben declared.
This shook Ryder out of his funk. "Yeah, Ben's right! We're going to find Jake! Pups, split up and try to find tracks or Jake's scent." Ryder agreed.
The pups searched and looked around the area, but they didn't find anything. They were having no luck with it until Zuma and Chase found Jake's knapsack, which had frozen into an ice cube somehow. "Ryder, we found Jake's phone and backpack. It fell into the water. Now it's frozen solid!" Chase yipped, with Zuma tugging the frozen backpack ice block in a buoy.
Ben put his head to use, grabbing his phone and doing some weather data. "So there was a snowstorm about an hour ago. And the signal died about two and a half hours ago. That means Jake couldn't have gotten very far." Ben estimated.
"He's here, but without his backpack, he doesn't have any supplies." Ryder noted, before he saw some indentations in the snow. "Over there! Are those some tracks?" Ryder gasped.
Chase ran over and gave them a sniff. "Those are definitely Jake's tracks, all right… hm… who's this? A pup… ooh, who eats lots of liver." Chase spoke as he inhaled and studied the scents of the tracks.
"Those tracks should lead us right to them! Let's go!" Ryder exclaimed.
"I don't think we can… the tracks were snowed over." Chase sadly pointed out.
"No job is too big…" Ryder started.
"NO PUP IS TOO SMALL!" Ben finished.
Summoning all the pups to the PAW Patroller, Ben and Ryder stood at the front. "Chase, I'll need your tracking skills and police truck to find Jake's path again. Skye, I'll need you to search for Jake from above. Ben, you and the pups can follow along in the PAW Patroller in case we need more help." Ryder instructed.
"Chase is on the case!" The German Shepherd cried out.
"This pup's gotta fly!" Skye shouted.
"You got it, Ryder! PAW Patrol, roll to the rescue!" Ben solemnly said.
Chase and Skye exited the back of the van in their vehicles, while Ben followed Ryder's ATV in the Patroller. Skye radioed in. "Guys, I found Jake and the pup! They're stuck on an ice bridge, and the ice is breaking up! Hurry!" Skye yelped.
Ben revved the engine up and sped up, with the pups following suit. They managed to make it to the ice bridge. Ryder looked worried. "Come on, Ryder. We found Jake. He's alive. We can save him, and the pup!" Ben reminded his friend.
That broke Ryder out of his spell. "There's more than one way to lift Jake. Chase, get your winch ready!" Ryder suggested. Chase barked out the winch, and Ryder took hold of it before giving it to Skye. "Skye, use your wings to fly the winch line out to Jake. Chase will pull Jake and the pup off the bridge. If they fall, we can winch them up." Ryder ordered.
"Time to take to the skies! Wings!" Skye yipped, activating her flight mode and taking the winch handle in her mouth before flying it to Jake and the pup.
"We'll pull you both to safety!" Ben promised. The pup leapt into Jake's arms and they started pulling him to safety. Then, the bridge gave way, and they fell before slamming against the wall. The cord broke, and Jake tossed the pup up to solid ground as he hung off the edge.
"JAKE!" The pup yelled worriedly, grabbing his glove with her mouth and tugging it with all her might.
"Let's help her!" Ben shouted as he ran to the husky and grabbed her gently, helping her pull Jake up to safety.
"You okay?" The pup and Jake asked in unison, before they laughed.
"I'm great, Everest. Thanks… you saved me, again!" Jake happily said, giving this Everest pup a hug. Ben realized that he probably wouldn't have made it without this dog.
"Hey, um. Everest? Are you all right?" Ben asked.
"Never been better! Nice to meet you, Ben! Jake told me all about you, Ryder, and the others." Everest replied warmly. Marshall tossed them a blanket as they took the two to the PAW Patroller. Once Jake was warmed up, and Everest was given some treats, Jake and Everest stood outside the PAW Patroller.
"Hey, Everest, what are you gonna do now?" Jake asked the husky.
Everest glanced back at her igloo sadly. "Guess I have to find another way back to my igloo." She sighed.
Jake shook his head no, having talked about this with Ryder and Ben. They received his full support on this idea. "I have an idea. You know how you said it can be lonesome out here and all? Well, do you want to come back to Adventure Bay with us? I could really use a smart pup like you to help out on the mountain." Jake offered.
"You could!?" Everest squealed happily.
"Oh, yeah! Tracking down lost snowboarders, clearing trails, even rescues sometimes!" Jake told her.
"I love rescues! I get to go with you and all the PAW Patrol? WOOHOO!" Everest shouted, the happiest she'd ever been in her entire life. Everest and Jake got in the PAW Patroller, and they started driving home. Everest quickly bonded with the pups.
"We made a good decision. Don't dwell on what would have happened if Everest wasn't there for Jake." Ben said to Ryder as they drove. Parking at Jake's cabin, Ben called Katie to let her know that he'd pick up Alex the next morning. Katie understood after Ben explained the rescue they had done.
Roasting marshmallows outside of Jake's cabin, Ben grinned as he petted Everest. "Thanks again for rescuing us, everyone." Jake thanked.
"We couldn't have done it without each other. Whenever you're in trouble, just remember to yelp for help! Which reminds me. Ryder, you have something for Everest, don't you?" Ben remarked.
Ryder nodded his head. "Everest, for saving Jake and showing great rescue skills, I'd like to make you an official member of the PAW Patrol! Welcome to the team, PAW Patrol Cyan!" Ryder announced, giving Everest a dog collar with a cyan badge and a silver tree on it.
"PAW Patrol rocks! I don't know what to say except thanks, Ryder. Thanks, pups. Best day ever, ever!" Everest giggled. Everyone laughed as she scarfed down several more marshmallows.
Ben wondered what was in store for the team next… they hadn't added a new member in three years. More paws to help out always was good, he supposed. Maybe one day, Alex would even be in the PAW Patrol for real!
And here we have Everest making her debut! She'll be appearing in more snow episodes this season, and additional episodes as well!