Episode 23: Pups And The Pirate Treasure! Time To Morph To The Rescue, Ben!
November 18th, 2029
Ryder, Marshall, Zuma, Chase, and Rubble were playing a game of basketball right outside the Lookout garage. "Ready, Marshall?" Ryder asked as he dribbled the ball with his hand.
Marshall shook his head no. "I don't think I can do it, Ryder… every time I try to make a basket, I end up missing the shot… and then the ball hits Rubble." Marshall sighed. Ryder threw the ball, Marshall headbutted it, and sent the ball bouncing onto the rim, which then made it land onto Rubble's head, just like Marshall predicted. "Sorry Rubble!" Marshall sheepishly apologized to his bulldog buddy.
Rubble was a good sport about this, though, and smiled after shaking his head a little. "It's okay, Marshall. It doesn't really hurt too much. Plus… I kind of expected it." Rubble chuckled.
Everyone laughed a little at that. Chase's eyes lit up as he had an idea. "I know how you can get a basket, Marshall! We can use Rocky's catapult! Come on!" Chase suggested, running off to ask Rocky if they could borrow it. The mixed breed was in his puphouse at that moment, and usually the recycling pup wasn't too picky about letting the others borrow his catapult or other inventions.
Meanwhile, Ben was adding the finishing touches to the rescue armor, feeling very proud of himself. For many, many of their rescues, Ben had simply sat back and offered advice from the sidelines, or oversaw the missions while keeping the pups back at the tower entertained. Now, those days would last no longer. With these mechanical arms and his suit added to the halfway point on the Lookout tower elevator lift, he'd be armored up and ready to leap into action at a moment's notice. Originally, he wanted to compress the suit so that he would be able to change into it at a moment's notice, but until he figured out how to do that, this would suffice for now.
"Your armor looks so cool, Ben! I can't believe you wore that for Halloween! Does Ryder's Mighty Red Ranger costume have any special stuff in it?" Alex inquired excitedly as he and his human companion rode the elevator down to ground level.
Ben smiled at Alex as he shook his head no. "Sadly no. I did offer to do that for him, but he would rather design his own rescue armor himself." Ben told Alex.
As he and his wolf cub sat down on the beanbags in the Lookout lobby to watch some TV, the eighteen year old heard the glass doors slide open and the elevator go up. Seconds later, their TV time was interrupted by Ryder radioing them. "PAW Patrol, to the lookout!" Ryder's voice called out.
Ben and Alex quickly stepped aside in front of the elevator doors for the rest of the group to come in. To their surprise, Marshall was first… and he was FLYING! The pup hurled through the air and landed on the glass wall of the elevator as the rest of the PAW Patrol came in. "Marshall, how did you do that?" Ben gasped.
"Hey, I'm supposed to be the flying pup!" Skye protested.
"That's fine with me… I flew with a little help from Rocky's invention!" Marshall giggled after he fell off of the wall.
Ben and Alex walked into the glass elevator and then it started to lift up to the control room at the top of the lookout tower. "Pups… it's morphin time!" Ben exclaimed as the mechanical arms extended and outfitted all of them in their suits. This time was different because Ben was also being dressed. With the pups now geared up and ready to go, the elevator resumed its ascension before reaching the top, the glass doors sliding open. Ben, Chase, and the rest of the pups walked out of the elevator, lining up in front of Ryder.
"PAW Patrol, ready for action, Ryder, sir!" Chase exclaimed.
Ryder looked at Ben, arching an eyebrow at him wearing his halloween costume. Ben nodded, silently telling Ryder to roll with it. The spiky haired teen shrugged and started to brief everyone on the situation. "Cap'n Turbot was taking pictures of the Blue-footed Booby bird when he fell into a hidden cavern that was filled with pirate items! He thinks that it might belong to Captain Blackfur himself!" Ryder explained.
"Captain Blackfur, as in the Captain Blackfur!?" Ben gasped.
"You mean Adventure Bay's most mysterious pirate, which no one knows what he looked like!?" Rubble squealed in excitement. The bulldog was a huge fan of pirates.
"Yup! The legends say that no one knows what he looked like, or what happened to his treasure. Chase, I need your winch to lower me into the cave and pull Captain Turbot out. Rubble, I'll need your shovel in case we have to dig in the cavern. Ben, you'll ride with Rubble in case we need some extra manpower to dig the cavern out. The rest of you pups will remain on standby in case we need you to lend a paw." Ryder answered, before giving out the assignments.
"Rubble on the double!" Rubble roared.
"Chase is on the case!" The German Shepherd stated.
"You got it, Ryder!" Ben replied.
"All right! PAW Patrol is on a roll!" Ryder exclaimed, before heading to the fire pole and sliding down. Ben followed Ryder and got on his motorcycle while Rubble and Chase took the slide to their pupmobiles. The two humans revved their vehicles up and tore out of the garage onto the road.
After about twenty minutes of driving to the location where Captain Turbot had called from, they came upon the hole where he had fallen into. "Ryder?! Ben!? Pups!? Is that you!?" Captain Turbot called out.
"Yeah, it's us, Captain! Are you doing okay? You didn't break anything, did you?" Ben asked in response, sticking his head over the hole so he could talk to the sailor.
"I'm doing just dandy, don't worry! You just figure out a way to get down here safely!" Captain Turbot yelled back. Ryder attached the winch hook from Chase's cruiser to his belt. "Don't worry, Captain, we'll get you out of there in no time! Okay Chase, lower me down!" Ryder shouted, before telling Chase to lower the hook. Ben leapt down there, knowing that if the captain had fallen down there without injury, then he could take a leap down there with his protective armor and not get hurt.
"Am I glad to see you two boys! I've found quite a few relics, such as this!" Captain Turbot exclaimed, walking over to a treasure chest and pulling out a spyglass.
"A genuine pirate spyglass! Intriguing!" Ben mused as he examined the antique.
Ryder then had a thought. "Wait a minute… if this really is the legendary Blackfur's hideout, then how was he able to store all of his stuff in here…?" Ryder wondered.
Captain Turbot scratched his head in contemplation. "Good question! If I make a haphazardous hypothesis, there is likely a more lenient path outside of this cavernous cave! Perhaps a secret path, or an underground tunnel!" Captain Turbot offered.
Ben nodded in agreement, pulling his own pup pad from his waist and calling Rubble and Chase. "Chase, Rubble, we need you down here to help find a second way out of this cave. We're confident that there's an alternate exit that Blackfur used to place his stuff in here." Ben reported.
"Yes, Ben, sir!" Chase proudly said, lowering Rubble with his winch.
"Oooh, I hope there aren't any spiders… like on the floor… oooh, spider cooties…!" Rubble whimpered.
"Aw, don't worry, Rubble. If there are, then I'll squash them!" Ben comforted the bulldog.
A spider then dropped down from the ceiling, aiming to land on Rubble's snout. "SPIDER! DIE!" Ben screamed, punching the spider and sending it flying, presumably to its demise.
"Thanks Ben!" Rubble sighed in relief as Chase lowered himself down with his cruiser's winch.
"Ruff! Need some light, you guys?" Chase barked out, activating his pup pack's flashlight.
"Thanks for the illumination, Chase. I didn't install night vision in my helmet." Ben gratefully said.
Chase then walked over to the treasure chest and admired the pirate skull and crossbones flag, while Ryder gave Rubble a pirate hat for him to wear. "ARR! Shiver me timbers!" Rubble giggled.
Chase then tentatively sniffed the air. "I smell something… aha! I smell sea water!" Chase cried out as he approached one of the cavern walls, which had some cracks in it.
"Then that has to be the way to the beach! Rubble, let's do this!" Ben exclaimed.
Together, the pup and his human moved the rocks out of the way.
Chase lifted up his ear, and heard a crashing noise. "I hear waves, you guys!" Chase told them.
"Then that must be the way to the beach! Since the way out is blocked right now, let's make sure we don't come out on the middle of a cliffside or anything." Ryder suggested, calling Zuma with the pup pad. "Hey Zuma, we need you to come to the-" Ryder began.
"North Shore Beach? On my way, Ryder! I knew you'd be calling me!" Zuma cheered. Ben saw clouds in the sky above them.
"Zuma, are you already en route to the northern beach!? What made you so sure we were there?" Ben asked.
"Alex was looking in the periscope, and he saw that the hole Capt'n Turbot fell into was right by the northern beach, and there was a crack in one of the stone walls!" Zuma explained. Ben puffed his chest up in pride. "That's my wolf pup!" Ben crowed.
"All clear, you guys! You'll come out on the beach!" Zuma exclaimed, and his voice could be heard through the crack in the cave wall.
The group pushed the boulder out of the way blocking the entrance, before finding a bottle on the ground that had been dislodged when the boulder had been moved. "Check out this old bottle! Dudes, it looks like there might be a message in it!" Zuma squealed.
Ryder opened up the bottle and took the piece of paper inside out. Unfurling it, he gasped at the contents of the document. "It looks like… a map!" Ryder proclaimed.
"A PIRATE TREASURE MAP!" Rubble yelled out in delight.
"Hm… but part of it is missing. That Captain Blackfur was a tricky fellow. I bet he divided the map into pieces." Ben mused.
"Looks like we have a mystery on our hands, everyone! We're going to need all paws on deck to solve this!" Ryder then announced.
"This could be our most epic adventuwe yet, dudes!" Zuma cheered.
"Skye, Rocky, Marshall, Alex, meet us below the cliffs!" Ryder commanded. Within a half hour, the four pups and their vehicles met up with the rest of the group at the beach.
"Is that a treasure map!?" Skye gasped.
"TREASURE!?" Alex growled in excitement.
Ryder showed it to all of them, and Ben read the clue that was on the map. "A priceless treasure awaits ye who finds the map torn into three! The next piece that you seek hides in the big parrot's beak!" Ben narrated.
The pups thought about that for a minute before Rocky's eyes lit up. "Big parrot… the boulders at the bottom of Jake's mountain look kind of like a parrot!" Rocky offered.
"That sounds like a great place to start! Let's check it out!" Chase agreed.
"Captain Turbot, we'll call you once we find the treasure!" Ben told the sailor before they headed off.
Ben rode in his motorcycle and kept in contact with the rest of the group as he took an off-road trail to keep up with Skye. With his motorcycle, he could take paths that the rest of the group usually couldn't go on. Following Skye to the parrot rock formation, Ben parked his motorcycle as an eagle's screech rang out. Skye froze up at the screech of her once devourer. This wasn't good… Ben knew firsthand how scared Skye was of eagles. Hell, she had been kidnapped by one when she was a pup, and that was how the group had met her.
Skye started whimpering and hid underneath the parrot rock. Ben ran over to her and picked her up, hugging her protectively. "Don't worry, Skye. That eagle isn't even interested in you this time. And if it comes anywhere close to us…" Ben promised, before drawing a small water pistol from his belt. "I'll give it the spraying of a lifetime." Ben hissed. Skye then saw a small bunny rabbit shivering in fear.
"That eagle's after that bunny rabbit!" Skye squeaked. "I'm on it! Shoo, you arrogant avian, shoo!" Ben yelled as he aimed and blasted the eagle with some soda, a more effective substance to spray enemies with than water. Managing to hit it in the eye, the predatory bird shrieked in anger and rage as it was blinded, flying off to recuperate. The small rabbit took this chance to run back off into the woods, hopefully to safety.
Skye breathed a sigh of relief when she couldn't hear the flapping of the eagle's wings anymore. "You didn't hurt it too bad, right? I really don't like eagles, but I don't want you to put one down just because I'm scared of them." Skye asked.
Ben stroked Skye's head comfortingly. "No. I only filled this pistol with soda. That eagle might have a bit blurrier vision than normal for a few days, but it'll live." Ben answered.
Ryder and the rest of the pups arrived at the parrot rock, where Ryder and the others ran over to them worriedly. "Skye!? Ben!? What happened!?" Marshall yelped, worried for the two of them. "I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm okay, you guys. I just got… scared." Skye reassured, wincing a little at the memory of it. Ben flapped his wings, indicating that an eagle had showed up.
Chase ran up and nuzzled his sister, embracing her protectively. "It's all right, everyone. I scared it off. Hopefully, next time that flying freak sees my green suit, it knows to stay the heck away." Ben assured the rest of the group. They sat and comforted Skye for a few minutes before resuming the treasure hunt once Skye had her nerves calmed down.
"Now, let's see if we can find that map!" Rubble roared as they split up, with the pups sniffing around for any sign of the next piece.
Rocky saw the sun's glare reflecting off of Ben's helmet visor, giving him an idea. "Didn't the clue say the next piece of the map was in the parrot's beak?" Rocky thought out loud. Backing up from the bottom of the parrot rock formation, he then saw the glint of something glassy in the mouth of the parrot's beak. Howling loudly, Rocky pointed his paw to the bottle.
Using her wings, Skye flew up and grabbed the bottle with her mouth before bringing it back down. Ryder uncorked the container and pulled the scrap of parchment out to examine. "Does X mark the spot?! Does it!?" Rubble squealed in excitement, jumping up and down like a little kid.
"No X on this section of the map… sorry Rubble. I'm going to bet the third and final portion of the map has the X on it. Rocky, tape." Ben replied.
Rocky arfed out the tape in his pup pack, and with Ryder and Ben holding the map pieces together, Rocky was able to tape and recombine them. "We have the next clue now! From atop Parrot Rock, look toward the sea. A clue lies in the hollow of a very big tree." Ryder read.
The recycling pup's tail drooped and he frowned.
"But Adventure Bay has hundreds of big trees throughout the town, not to mention the woods surrounding the city!" Marshall pointed out.
"It could take days to search through all of them! And the tree might not be around anymore! That map is several decades old at the very least!" Rocky cried out.
Chase perked his head up as he had an idea. "I think I know where we could start our search! I know that the trees in the area where Lil Hooty and his mom live are really old, and they're also pretty big!" Chase suggested.
Ben snapped his fingers. "By George, Chase, you're right! That's a perfect place to start our hunt for the last map piece!" Ben complimented.
"What are we waiting for!? Let's go! ARRR!" Rubble growled. Everyone got into their vehicles as they headed back to the lookout. Instead of parking at the lookout, though, they headed into the woods east of the tower.
Rubble enthusiastically started searching for the treasure, only to freak out when he stuck his head into a tree stump that had a whole family of spiders. Rocky went over to help him out, while Skye sneezed into a tree trunk as she had no luck with finding the treasure either.
Ben bent down and looked into Chase's eyes. "Hey Chase. Why don't we ask your little pal for help? I know it's been a while since you've seen Lil Hooty." Ben offered.
Chase jumped up and gave Ben some licks. "REALLY!? Thank you thank you thank you! Come on, Lil Hooty's tree is this way!" Chase yipped.
Ben smiled as he had helped Chase out, and given the pup a little bit more attention. They didn't have to walk far before Lil Hooty flew out of her tree and greeted her favorite canine. "Hey Lil Hootie! It's great to see you! Have you seen an old bottle in the knothole of any of these trees?" Chase asked his owl friend.
Hootie blinked before nodding her head, flapping her wings and guiding the group to a very tall tree, pecking against a glass object to make the tingling noise and prove it was there. "I'm on it!" Marshall promised as he took his fire truck to the oak tree, using his ladder to climb up and reach the glass bottle.
"Thanks for the help, Lil Hootie! See you soon!" Marshall chuckled, waving the bird goodbye. Unfortunately, while he was using his paw to bid their owl companion farewell, Marshall lost his balance and fell down his ladder, sending the bottle tumbling through the air. Thankfully, Ben grabbed the bottle out of the air, while Ryder caught Marshall in his arms.
"Great job, Marshall! If this is the third and final piece of the map, it should fit with the other pieces. Alex, tape em together!" Ben enthusiastically announced.
The white wolf combined the map pieces and merged them together with his electrical tape. "THE X IS THERE! We have the treasure location!" Ryder declared.
"YARR! Then what we be waiting for, mateys?! Let's go and claim that booty!" Rubble snarled, swinging his front leg just like a pirate would with his arm.
"We have to read the clue first, Rubble!" Rocky giggled, reminding the bulldog to hold his horses.
"Walk 20 paces from the tree, toward the setting sun and the rising sea… the sun sets that way, over the sea. So twenty paces in that direction and we find the treasure!" Ryder read, before coming to a conclusion.
Ryder took nine steps forward, but stopped before taking the tenth one. "If I took that tenth step, I'd fall into the ocean…" Ryder noted.
"Maybe the pirates took tiny steps, or maybe Blackfur was a small guy!" Marshall proposed as he took several steps forward.
They then saw a green fog covering some sort of structure in the distance. Skye flew out to the island before radioing the rest of them. "Yup, that's a pirate ship for sure, you guys! I can see the flag!" Skye told them.
Ryder used the camera on Skye's pup tag and zoomed in. "That old ship is falling apart. It's not safe… looks like it could fall apart easily. We need to get it on land, fast, before the tide comes in and the waves break it into pieces. The ship is pretty large, but if we work together, we'll be able to save it!" Ryder said.
"ARR! Let's bring it in!" Rubble exclaimed.
They split up- Rubble created a channel for them to drag the boat up to the beach, Rocky got his forklift set up, Chase had his winch ready to go, Ryder had the other end of the winch attached to the pirate ship, and Marshall was on standby. Ben walked the sandy path to the ship, and climbed on board. All of a sudden, the green fog began to thicken.
A glowing orb shot up from the ship, and Ben noted two pirate swords on the floor of the ship's main area. The glowing orb then morphed into a skeletal pirate. "YARRRRRRGH! My name be Michael Foxington, best mate of the legendary Blackfur the pirate! Many plunderers have come before ye to claim the treasure for themselves and dishonor the last wishes of Blackfur! I made an oath with my dying breath to protect his treasure and honor his last will and testament! En garde, green armored fellow!" The skeletal pirate shouted.
Quickly, Ben picked up the sword lying near his feet as the skeletal pirate grabbed the other blade and charged towards him. Swinging his blade, Ben had to parry and counter the attacks of the spectral swordsman as Ryder and the pups started to move the ship. "The anchor is caught!" Ryder gasped as the ship stopped moving. He and Zuma dove down to free the anchor while Ben continued to battle the pirate phantom. "I assure you, I mean no disrespect to the last wishes of Blackfur! What is his desire!?" Ben yelled out as he jabbed his sword through his opponent's chest, the sword passing straight through the ghost.
"He wanted the treasure given back to his home, so he could repay the town that had raised him! His last will and testament bequeaths all of the gold, relics, and priceless items on this vessel to Adventure Bay! Your friend and his pup will drown before they will ever free the anchor that holds this ship in place!" Michael howled indignantly. At this revelation, Ben laughed, but then gasped when Michael threatened his friends.
"LISTEN HERE YOU PIRATE PRICK! We are from Adventure Bay! This is FOR Adventure Bay that we're doing this! We went on this pirate treasure hunt for the town of Adventure Bay! Every day of me and Ryder's lives, as well as the lives of these pups, has been spent in the service of the town and its people! We would give our lives for the people of this town! So let us move this boat, because I assure you, there is not an ounce, not a single shred of deception in my words!" Ben roared, cleaving the pirate in two with his sword (though that didn't do much since Michael was a ghost).
Michael Foxington then studied Ben, taking his hat off and lowering his sword as he examined the eighteen year old and dissected his words. The skeletal sailor then threw his head back and let out a hearty laugh. "You have spirit, young man! You and those pups remind me of myself and me crewmates, as well as Blackfur himself! My ghostly intuition tells me that you are speaking the truth! Very well then! You and your band of adventurers may return this boat to the people of our hometown. I shall be waiting for you in the afterlife, heroes! Thank you for freeing me from this plane of existence!" The revenant raved, dropping his sword as he dissipated into the green fog, which was blown away with a strong wind.
The ship started moving again, meaning that the anchor had been freed up. Ben turned to see Ryder and Zuma climb up the ladder of the ship. The armored teenager put the sword he had used to defend himself during the clash with the specter in his belt, sheathing it in a scabbard that was also lying on the ship's floor. "Woah, dude, what happened?! We heard you yelling!" Zuma asked.
As they rode on the ship back to Adventure Bay, Ben told Ryder about his encounter with the ghost of Michael Foxington. Ryder nodded, a little shocked that Ben had an encounter with a real phantom. "It sounds pretty far fetched… but there was a flying pirate ship on Halloween that we all saw. And there's plenty of reports of monsters and heroes fighting them. I've even heard rumors of sentient transforming robots!" Ryder replied to Ben's tale.
"So you believe me?" Ben asked, smiling at Ryder.
"Of course I believe you, Ben! You're my friend." Ryder answered, giving Ben a pat on the shoulder.
The group rode the ship to the docks of Adventure Bay, where they got off. Mayor Goodway, Captain Turbot, and a crowd of citizens were assembled to watch the boat come in, cheering them on. "As mayor of Adventure Bay, I, Genevieve Goodway, am pleased to thank the PAW Patrol and Captain Turbot for making this great archeological find! Captain Blackfur the Pirate was a well known hero and local legend back in the 1880s! This is an amazing discovery that will be remembered for a very long time!" Mayor Goodway announced, with Chickaletta squawking in agreement.
"Captain Turbot, can you lend us a hand? You were the one who got us started on this treasure hunt in the first place, after all!" Ryder offered. Captain Turbot bowed gratefully and climbed onto the wooden pirate ship with Marshall's ladder. The group then went down the stairs to the treasure vault, and brought back two treasure chests.
With Rocky picking the lock of the chests open, the three humans opened the treasure boxes up to examine their contents. The first chest was filled with plenty of golden doubloons, gemstones, and other metallic goodies. The second chest, however, was much more intriguing. Inside the second chest, they found golden dog toys, a gold covered bone, a jewel-encrusted bronze dog bowl, and a silver dog tag that bore a striking resemblance to Rubble's construction tag, with a wrench and a screw in place of the two crossbones. The tag was also colored yellow and silver…
"A super fancy dog bowl… a golden bone! Not for chewing though… this had to have belonged to a super fancy pup!" Rocky mused.
"Why would a pirate captain have a dog bowl…?" Marshall wondered.
"Maybe mysterious Captain Blackfur had a faithful pup!" Skye suggested. There was one last item in the treasure chest, a painting of some kind that was lying face down on the chest floor. Ben picked it up and gasped in shock at what it depicted, nearly dropping the painting in surprise.
"Captain Blackfur didn't have a pirate pup… he WAS the pirate pup!" Ben exclaimed. That wasn't the shocking part though. What was most shocking was that the painting showed a pup that looked almost exactly like Rubble! Much more so than dogs of the same species looked like. He had the same hole in his ear that Rubble did (which was used for an earring in the painting).
"He looks just like me, except for the black fur beard!" Rubble shouted in delight.
Captain Turbot pulled out a paper from the chest. "Oh, wait, wait! This scroll of parchment contains a prominent pronouncement of the pirate pup. 'He who finds this chest my pirate command obey, and return this treasure to the good people of Adventure Bay!' Well, good to know we're not disobeying." Captain Turbot read from the paper.
That explained the last testament and wish that the ghost pirate was talking about. "You're all good pups. Let's go and have some fun!" Ryder said before taking the pups off of the boat to go and play at the Lookout. Ben studied the portrait of Captain Blackfur before setting it down to go play with the others. One mystery had been solved… but another one had been created.