Season 3 Episode 3: Pups Save A Robosaurus! Farewell For Now, Rex!
April 27th, 2030
After the encounter with the aliens six days prior, Rex had become rather uneasy. The Bernese mountain dog was beginning to question his role on the Paw Patrol. He knew that aliens existed, but having to swerve around and dodge those strange blasts that were coming from the broken ray shooter on their ship had scared him.
Rex knew that it was silly to be afraid of those rays, as they were merely anti-gravity beams, but it had kicked his adrenaline into overdrive and his instincts into fight or flight mode. Out of all the pups, the paraplegic had gone through the most painful brushes with death. Sure, Skye had nearly been eaten by an eagle, and the group had nearly suffocated in space during the first Mighty Pup incident, but Rex knew that they hadn't been as bad as his own experiences.
The other Paw Patrol members hadn't been in a car collision. They hadn't felt their legs stop being able to move and wonder if this was the end as their eyes fluttered shut. They hadn't been mauled and bitten by a group of aggressive bully dogs. And… well, Ella had nearly gotten eaten by a Tyrannosaurus alongside him. That was the one and only near death experience Rex had in common with a member of the rescue force.
All of these times that he had nearly lost his life made him realize that he had developed a fear of death. And Rex knew first paw that if he was going to continue to serve on the rescue force, he would have to put his life on the line to help others. It scared him. Even with Ella by his side, he wasn't sure that he could handle it.
Of course, he had confided in his Golden Retriever girlfriend his fears and secrets. Ella was really worried for him, and so she took this up with Ryder and Ben. The two owners debated on what to do, and in that time frame the Paw Patrol received a transmission from Tyler and Koda. "Hey, everyone! Things have been getting a bit difficult around here. We were wondering if Rex could come by and lend a helping paw out. That pup sure knows dinosaurs, and I know it'd be a dream come true for him to meet live ones that aren't actively trying to hurt him. If you wanna take us up on our offer and come on over to Amber Beach, call us back! Bye!" Tyler had announced in his message before the video clip ended.
That video message tore at Rex's heart. Should he stay with the Paw Patrol, or go and see the prehistoric creatures and help out on the Dino Charge Earth? Ben and Ryder knew that Rex had a lot on his mind, so they had decided on a course of action. "Pups, we're going to be going on a road trip for a day or two! We'll be camping out in the desert and sleeping under the night sky." Ryder revealed.
"ROAD TRIP!" Tuck and Ella yelled out in delight.
"COOL! Will we be eating new things?! I love trying new foods!" Rubble squealed happily.
Chase and Skye were giggling and wagging their tails at the thought of a night of camping out beneath the stars. Rex breathed a sigh of relief. A day without rescues sounded like just what he needed.
That afternoon, the pups all got in the Paw Patroller and drove out into the desert, following the highway. "Wait, where are we going to get food to eat if we're in the middle of the desert? We've got stuff for breakfast tomorrow morning, but not anything for dinner." Rocky pointed out as they left Adventure Bay.
Ryder looked at Ben, who was in charge of packing the food for the trip. "You did make plans for dinner, right?" Ryder asked his friend.
"Don't sweat it, everyone! I've got a campsite picked out and it's right by this diner that's owned by a nice couple. In fact, we're almost there!" Ben reassured his family.
"Pfft! I can't believe you doubted Dad." Marshall snickered, always having faith in Ben.
Ben's heart melted once again, and broke into a grin. "I hope so. Because right now, I'm so hungry I could eat a... DINOSAUR! WHOA!" Rubble shouted as he saw a mechanical dino standing next to a small building and a trailer home.
"DINOSAUR?! I want to see!" Rex cried out excitedly, unable to see out of the windows since his wheelchair left him unable to get on the seats.
Ben giggled as he picked up Rex and lifted him up so he could see the robotic landmark. "Wow, it looks so awesome! Even if it's a robot, it looks cool!" Rex exclaimed.
Robo-Dog parked their van off the side of the road and everyone walked out of the vehicle to the diner. "I get it! A huge object like that attracts interest from passersby and gets folks to pull over and see what this little shop sells! Like us! Say, what do they sell here, Ben?" Tuck mused.
"Some of the best burgers in the entire state, at least in my opinion!" Ben chuckled.
"BURGERS!" The pups all exclaimed in excitement.
They ran up to the entrance of the diner, and the robotic dinosaur stomped its foot before letting out a bellow. The owner of the restaurant, Samuel Wingnut, came out. "Don't worry! Earl's the friendliest robo-dino you'll ever meet! And I should know, I built him! Right, Earl?" Samuel asked. The robotic dinosaur let out a roar of approval.
His wife came out of the diner with two trays in her hands, one filled with pup friendly burgers, and one with two burgers on it for Ryder and Ben. "Don't mind my husband's big toy. Let's get some yummy in your hungry tummies!" Anne Wingnut sweetly said as she placed the pup burger tray on the ground and the food for the two owners on a nearby table.
Everyone began to chow down. As the pups ate their food, Ben noticed that Marshall looked a little anxious, and ended up giving his food to Rubble. "Marshall? What's wrong?" Ben asked.
Marshall glanced at the robotic dinosaur. "D-Dad, I think that thing was moving!" Marshall murmured worriedly.
Ben looked at the mechanical tourist attraction and studied it. It didn't look like it had moved… The head looked like it was facing a different angle than before, but nothing significant.
"I believe you, Marshall. It might be your imagination, but I do think that the head looks like it's turned a little since we arrived." Ben noted.
They got back in the Paw Patroller and headed a bit down the road, setting up a campsite. As the sun set in the sky and the color changed from blue to violet while the stars emerged, they told campfire stories. When they headed to bed, Chase and Skye snuggled together in a sleeping bag, same with Rex and Ella. Rocky and Zuma snoozed next to each other while Marshall, Rubble, and Tuck watched them.
"You guys are all so lucky! I wish I had someone to cuddle with." Rubble wistfully sighed before going inside his puphouse.
They were interrupted by the sound of Ryder's pup pad ringing. "Huh. Who could be calling at this time of night? Adventure Bay is always sleeping by now. And they know that we're out on our trip…" Ben commented.
"It's Mr. Wingnut." Ryder answered before picking up the phone. "Hello! Ryder here." The seventeen year old greeted.
"Ryder, my robo-dinosaur went on the fritz! Before I could get to the off switch, that big bot walked off dragging my trailer with Mrs. Wingnut inside!" Mr. Wingnut frantically shouted over the phone.
"On our way! No job is too big, no pup is too small! TO THE PAW PATROLLER!" Ryder announced, summoning the pups and bringing them to the Paw Patroller.
Once everyone sat down and was geared up, Ryder began to give them a run down of the situation. "Somehow, the robo-dinosaur walked away towing the trailer with poor Mrs. Wingnut inside! This is probably just a mechanical mishap, but it doesn't change the fact that she's in trouble!" Ryder began.
"How are we supposed to stop this runaway robo-dinosaur?" Skye wondered.
"We can build a trap for it! Spy Chase, we'll need your infrared goggles to spot Earl. Rubble, you'll scoop out a hole for him to fall into. Rocky, you'll set up posts and a rope for the dinosaur to fall into." Ryder instructed.
Ben shook his head. "I'm not sure this is a good idea, Ryder." Ben remarked.
"Best I can come up with. This is the first time we've had to deal with an out of control robot dinosaur. PAW PATROL IS ON A ROLL!" Ryder sighed, letting his confidence drop and expose his unsureness for a second before regaining composure and getting on his ATV.
Rex and Ella wandered outside to a spot a fair bit away from the Paw Patroller. Rocky, Ryder, and Rubble set up two poles and a strong wiring cable for tripping Earl the robosaurus. "Let's do this!" Rocky cheered as he hammered in the second and final stake. Earl roared as he approached their trap, and the rest of the Paw Patrol backed away.
The monster took one last step before the rope caught him. However, something was wrong. The rope wasn't giving way, but Earl wasn't tripping either. Instead, he ricocheted, with the trailer that held Mrs. Wingnut inside of it flying off of the robotic creature's tail. Rex and Ella were holding paws and gazing at the moonlight. "The stars are so beautiful! I never got to see constellations like this in Angel Grove!" Rex happily said.
A silhouette flew over them and started to grow larger. "Huh! If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was a dinosaur plummeting towards us!" Rex chuckled.
Ella's eyes widened as the shape tumbled through the air and grew larger and larger before it landed right next to them, causing the ground to shake. Rex froze in fear as the dinosaur took a step forward, the foot plummeting towards him and preparing to squish him flat like a bug. "NO!" Ella screamed as she hit her pup tag, a brilliant golden light blinding Rex as she ran underneath the robot's foot.
Rex shut his eyes tight and waited for everything to end. However, it never came. Hesitantly opening one eye, he saw that Ella was towering above him, growing in size and toppling the robotic dinosaur, forcing it to the ground. "AND STAY DOWN!" Ella's voice roared at the fallen beast. Earl twitched and flailed its arms and legs around before shutting down.
Rex started to sob, tears flowing from his eyes like rain pouring from the sky. "I-it happened again…" Rex cried out.
Ella's Mighty Pup suit dissipated as she pressed a paw to her pup tag and deactivated the meteor shard in it. "What!?" Ella asked as she ran forward and embraced her friend.
Rex threw his front paws around Ella. "I… I froze up. Again! How am I supposed to be a member of the Paw Patrol if I freeze up whenever my life is in danger!?" Rex whimpered.
Ben came running over to them, having seen Earl get flung through the sky from the Paw Patroller. He picked up the two pups and hugged them tightly. Raccoons came out of the robotic dinosaur, and Chase radioed back saying that they had managed to get Ms. Wingnut and her trailer to safety. The next morning, Rex was very distraught, and he wasn't even willing to get out of bed for a breakfast burger. Ben had to place the breakfast burger that the Wingnut couple had fixed for them in front of Rex's pup house in order for him to even eat.
"I don't deserve to even be here, Ben. I can't do my job as a rescuer right. I freeze whenever I get put into danger." Rex groaned as he nibbled dejectedly on the burger.
Ben got extremely worried about this. He and Ryder had a small talk at the front of the Paw Patroller. "Rex needs help. A lot of it. But from whom?" Ben wondered.
"Katie's a veterinarian, not a psychologist. We need someone who can help Rex with his mental state." Ryder mused.
All of the pups minus Rubble, Rex, and Ella heard this conversation between their two human owners. "I feel awful for Rex! He's so scared…" Chase moaned.
"I know! He's had it worse than all of us! He's been through things even scarier than my eagle encounter!" Skye whimpered sadly, referring to when the eagle had abducted her and she had been saved by Chase, Marshall, Ryder, and Ben.
"Yeah, we gotta help him somehow!" Marshall remarked.
"But we don't know any psycholo-whatevers!" Tuck pointed out.
"Maybe we do, and we just don't know it!" Rocky realized.
"What do you mean, Wocky?" Zuma wondered.
"I'm saying maybe one of our friends might be a psychologist, and we never bothered to ask them about it! We should split up into groups! Tuck, Rubble and I can go to the Jungle to see Carlos and Tracker and ask if they know anybody. Chase, Skye, and Marshall can go to the mountains and talk to Jake and Everest about finding someone that can give Rex the help he needs! Zuma and Wild can ask around Adventure Bay and see if one of our friends in town can help! Jake's had a lot of customers over the years as snowboarders, and Carlos has met a lot of people while excavating relics for the museums! They might know somebody!" Rocky explained.
Chase nodded his head in approval. "Yeah, Rocky, that's a brilliant idea!" Chase cheered.
"Yeah, even smarter than the one I was thinking of! That's why you're the smartest pup out of all of us!" Tuck chuckled.
"Let me go talk to Ryder and Ben about this. I want to get their approval before we go off. I don't want to get them worried by having us run off without us telling them our plan first." Rocky said before going into the Paw Patroller.
After Rocky explained his idea to his owners, the owners approved of this. "Rocky, that's a great plan! We'll be able to cover more ground if we divide and conquer! And your Rescue Racer modes for your pupmobiles will allow you to reach the desert much faster than the PAW Patroller would. This is a brilliant plan!" Ben mused.
The pups all hopped into their Pupmobiles and got out of the Paw Patroller. "SHIFT INTO TURBO!" Chase, Skye, Marshall, Rocky, and Rubble shouted as their vehicles turned into their Rescue Racer modes.
They then drove off into the distance. "Meet you all back at Adventure Bay!" Ben radioed the group before Robo-Dog began to drive him, Zuma, Rex, and Ella back home.
Chase, Marshall, and Skye drove up to Jake's cabin, the drive being much shorter than usual with their turbo vehicle modes. Everest and Jake came out of the small wooden lodge with grins on their faces. "Pups! Great to see you!" Jake cheered.
"MARSHALL!" Everest squealed. The husky ran up and tackled her Dalmatian boyfriend.
"EVVIE!" Marshall giggled as his girlfriend pelted him with affectionate licks.
"Marshall, I missed you! It's been a while since we had to do a rescue together." Everest chuckled.
"We fought dinosaurs together like two weeks ago!" Marshall laughed as he started to lick back.
"Yeah, but it feels like it's been forever!" Everest laughed as Marshall licked her.
Chase and Skye chuckled at their open display of affection as they followed Jake inside the cabin. "So, what can I do for you two?" Jake asked the police and pilot pups.
"We're looking for someone that can help our new friend Rex. He's been through a lot and we want him to get some of the stuff off of his chest that he's been carrying. Do you happen to know a psychologist? We know you have a lot of customers and you chat with them here in your lodge." Chase asked.
Jake sighed as he shook his head no. "Aw, man. I'm sorry, pups, but I don't really ask the snowboarders about what they do for a living. It's kind of personal, and a lot of the time, the people are up here in the mountains to get away from their work and regular day to day life. If I knew that any of my visitors had any experience or expertise in that field I would totally tell you about it." Jake apologized, lamenting that he couldn't help the Paw Patrol out with their problem.
"It's okay Jake! At least we got to see you and Everest!" Skye comforted the husky's owner.
In the jungle, Rubble, Rocky, and Tuck rolled up to Tracker and Carlos's treehouse home. Tuck and Tracker were ecstatic to see each other again, and began to tussle with each other playfully as Rocky and Rubble talked to Carlos. "So Carlos, we know you meet a lot of people with your museum work and relic hunting. Do you know any psycho whatsits?" Rubble blurted out.
"A what?" Carlos replied in confusion.
"He means a psychologist." Rocky chuckled, amused by Rubble struggling to pronounce the word.
Carlos nodded his head in understanding. "You want to have one help your new friend Rex, right? I wish I could help, but I don't know any psychologists. I've met archaeologists, I've met history professors and scholars, even scientists, but no psychologists. I'm really sorry." Carlos sadly said.
"Darn. I hope Zuma and Wild are having better luck than we are." Rubble groaned.
Wild and Zuma were in fact not having any better luck. They had talked to everyone! Mayor Goodway, Mr. Porter, Farmer Al, Farmer Yumi, and several others. Wild headed back to the lookout while Zuma went to the Flounder for one last person. "Hey hey! If it isn't my favorite chocolate Labrador! How are you doing, Zuma?" Captain Turbot greeted the orange wearing pup.
Zuma panted as he rolled over onto his back, worn out from the long day. "Hi Captain Tuwbot… we've been twying to find a psychologist for our friend Rex all afternoon and we haven't found anyone…" Zuma grumbled. He explained Rex's fear of death and Rex's problems.
"You know, Zuma, I actually know someone who could help your paraplegic pup pal with his phobia of meeting his end! My sister Tammy is a pup psychologist!" The sailor remarked.
"SHE IS?! Dude, that's exactly what we need! Where does she live?!" Zuma exclaimed.
Captain Turbot let out a nervous chuckle. "I'm afraid that's the problem. I haven't seen hide nor hair of her since she went to some town called Amber Beach! I can't find it on any map or google search! It's as if it doesn't exist on this earth!" He mused.
Zuma's eyes lit up even further and his tail started wagging. "Thanks a ton Captain Turbot! I gotta talk to Ryder and Ben about this!" Zuma told the seaman before going to the Lookout.
"I need to get over my fear… I need to stop freezing up… but how? How do I do that?!" Rex murmured to himself as Ella rubbed his head with one of her paws.
"It'll be okay, Rex! We'll figure out a solution!" Ella comforted him.
Ben and Ryder were sitting in the same room as Rex and Ella, googling and attempting to find an animal psychologist when Zuma came running into the lobby. "DUDES! I found it!" Zuma yelled out.
Ben and Ryder jerked their heads up to look at Zuma. "What did you find!?" Ben asked enthusiastically.
Zuma then explained about Captain Turbot's sibling Tammy and how she lived in Amber Beach. Rex's ears perked up at the mention of the coastal town. "Amber Beach!? That's where Tyler, Koda, and their other friends live!" Rex recalled.
"Maybe we can dial up Tyler and his buddies, ask them to find this Tammy and direct her here?" Ryder suggested.
Rex shook his head no. "I'm tired of waiting. Ever since the car accident, I've had to do so much waiting. For the first time in my whole life, I don't have to wait. I can take the initiative. Tyler can take me and Captain Turbot to Amber Beach, we can find Tammy and start my therapy sessions there. And if I go to their Earth, I'll be able to meet real life dinosaurs, ones that aren't going to try and eat me for dinner. It'll be a dream come true. Besides, you guys will be able to talk to me through our communications system now that Tommy upgraded it." Rex answered.
Ben let out a sigh as he realized that Rex's plan was really solid. After hours of discussing this with Ryder, the two humans agreed that this was the best course of action that Rex could take. Four days later, at the end of the month, Tyler showed up in front of the Lookout with Rex and Captain Turbot ready to go. All of the Paw Patrol was there to bid the Bernese mountain dog adieu (minus Alex, who was too busy doing stuff in Adventure City to be able to make it). "We'll miss you, Rex." Chase solemnly said.
"Yeah, you're amazing, Rex." Marshall chuckled sadly.
"And super smart!" Rocky added wistfully.
"You're one of the coolest dudes I've ever met." Zuma complimented the wheel pup.
"Getting to spend time with you was tons of fun." Skye sniffled, crying a little.
Rubble choked back a sob. "I packed a bunch of pup treats for you and pepperoni chews, buddy, so make sure they don't go to waste!" Rubble tearfully told his friend.
Now the only remaining members who hadn't given Rex a send-off were Tracker, Everest, Wild, Tuck, Ella, Ben, and Ryder. "Rex, don't you ever forget that you're one of the most clawsome canines to ever exist!" Wild assured.
"¡Diviértete, amigo!" Tracker reminded his buddy.
"Make sure to send us lots of pictures!" Everest giggled.
"Stay safe, Rex!" Ryder called out.
"Never stop being yourself." Ben told Rex.
Finally, it was down to the twins. Tuck pulled Rex in for a hug, and leaned into his ear. "Rex, you've had such an amazing impact on my sister. I'll always be grateful for that." Tuck whispered.
Ella buried her head in Rex's fur as she started to wail, tears streaming down her face. "D-Do you have to go?" Ella whimpered.
"I do. If I'm ever going to be a full fledged member of the Rescue Force, I have to do this." Rex answered.
"C-can't I come with you?" Ella cried.
"Ella, you know why you can't come. The Paw Patrol needs you. Hey, don't worry. Shh… it's going to be okay, Ellie! It's not a goodbye forever, it's just a farewell for now. We'll see each other again soon." Rex promised her.
She let go of him and kept crying. Rex nodded to Tyler and Captain Turbot. Their friend picked up their belongings and pressed a button on a device that was attached to his belt. A disk-shaped portal appeared in the air and the three went into the portal before it vanished.