Season 4 Episode 13: MISSION PAW SAVES THE PRINCESS'S PALS!
July 12th, 2030
It had been one week after the Air Patroller heist. Sweetie had confessed that she was the mastermind behind both the crown stealing and the throne stealing. Ben wasn't sure about how true that was, because Sweetie had stressed the fact that she didn't want anyone to get hurt with her schemes. Yet Chase had been kidnapped? Ben had a feeling that was Claw's doing. He had decided to stay behind in Barkingburg and give Sweetie a better life. The two of them had grown rather close, and Sweetie's behavior seemed to be improving. Claw was sulking about more than he had previously, though.
Over the course of the week Ben learned several things. Sweetie loved watching television and streaming services, so they spent a lot of time binging shows. She also was fascinated by how monarchy worked once Ben decided to teach her how queenship and kingship actually worked. It also turned out that the terrier and doberman were dating, which was amusing to Ben. Those two had a unique bond, and he hoped everything would work out for them. Currently, they were visiting the animal sanctuary that the Princess had created for sick and injured animals. "Isn't it wonderful to see how everyone is doing at the Royal Animal Care Grounds?" The Princess merrily asked.
Ben crossed his arms and scoffed as the princess doted over each of the animals residing there, and even gave them treats, much to Sweetie's irritation and Ben's frustration. "You treat those animals better than you do Sweetie." Ben muttered quietly.
The Princess must not have heard him, as she turned around. "Well, I'm off to see mother and father! It's been a few months since I've last seen them, and I want to show them the progress I've made in my training to become the future queen." Princess Bethany chuckled.
"What!? You'll be away from the castle!? Princess, what will we do!?" Sweetie asked in shock, before adding a sarcastic tone to that last remark.
"Oh, Sweetie, I'm touched that you'll miss me. But I'll be back soon! You'll be fine. You're perfectly capable of handling yourself for a day without me! Ben's in charge while I'm gone." The Princess laughed before she walked away to her royal carriage.
"Puh-lease. I could handle myself for weeks without her." Sweetie snorted.
Ben grinned as the two of them went into the throne room. "BUTLERS! Princess Bethany put me in charge while she's gone. I expect you to provide the best service for us while her highness is absent!" Ben shouted.
The butlers looked at Ben and gave him a stare before resuming their business as usual. Then, Ben picked up Sweetie and placed her on the throne. "Just one second…" Ben mused before walking over to the crown pedestal, deactivating the security system, and taking the crown. "B-Ben!?" Sweetie gasped.
The young man smiled as he walked over with the crown in his hands and placed it on Sweetie's head. "You're queen now." Ben chuckled as he bowed to her.
"But you said I had to be the daughter of a previous queen, or king, or...!" Sweetie started to protest.
Ben quickly put a finger to Sweetie's nose and booped her snout. "Pretend queen." Ben amended his previous statement.
Sweetie's eyes sparkled in happiness. Claw came running in and tackled Sweetie, giving her affectionate licks. "The princess is going away! That means you have free reign of the castle! You're finally queen! What should we do now?" Claw asked.
"I want everyone to call me 'Your Most Royal Important Imperial Puppiness', and...!" Sweetie started to say.
Then the crown was plucked off her head by the Earl. "Ah ah ah! The throne is not for pups." The Earl chided.
"HEY! Stuff it, old man! Let her have fun!" Ben yelled at the Earl.
"Traditions are traditions." The Earl sternly said before walking away.
The butlers came in and presented the two canines with pup food. "Hey, what happened to the burgers?" Ben argued.
"My apologies, young Benjamin. Come with me and we'll fetch a plate of hamburgers from the royal kitchen." The butler answered, and Ben shot an apologetic glance at Sweetie and Claw.
"I'll be back soon with some actual food." Ben promised before walking away with the butler.
"What's the use of being queen if no one obeys me? I'm just as invisible and ignored as I am with the Princess here! Am I not a member of the royal family!?" Sweetie yelled in anger.
"Technically, no, you aren't. We have you and Claw listed as the royal pet dogs, while Elizabeth and Henry are the royal pet cats. Pets are NOT family members." The Earl piped up before leaving to tend to the royal kitties.
Claw gritted his teeth in fury. "THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! We're just as smart as they are, why can't they treat us like they treat each other!?" Claw screamed.
"I wish I had some subjects to rule over…" Sweetie sighed sadly.
Claw lifted his head up as a lightbulb shined in his head. "I can handle that!" Claw eagerly said.
Immediately, Sweetie's mind jumped to a more risque meaning of that answer. "C-CLAW! You're already my knight, and we're still young! W-we don't have to have..." Sweetie stammered.
Claw's muzzle turned red as a tomato from embarrassment. "ABSOLUTELY NOT WHAT I MEANT! I'm old fashioned! I'm saving myself for marriage, my queen!" Claw yelped in response.
"Then what did you mean?" Sweetie asked, tilting her head in curiosity.
"I'll go and get you some subjects! Stay right there." Claw told her before running off.
Sweetie smiled to herself as she became lost in thought. "Aww, that was so sweet of him! Does that mean he and I might marry in the future…? …I'm not sure I should think about that right now. He said he was going to bring me subjects… I bet he's probably going to bring me some squeaky toys or some rocks or some stuffed animals…" Sweetie mused to herself mentally. Then Claw returned with the crocodiles, ostrich, hippopotamus, and elephant from the Royal Animal Care Grounds. The animals squawked and stood at attention as Claw gave them animal treats. Sweetie stomped up to Claw with an angry look on her face. "...Claw, what is this!? YOU BROUGHT THE ANIMALS FROM THE SANCTUARY HERE!?" Sweetie hissed at him.
"You said you needed subjects!" Claw protested.
"Those are injured wild animals! They don't listen to pups! They barely listen to the humans that take care of them!" Sweetie argued.
"O-oh… I didn't know? I only brought you what you wanted…" Claw meekly responded.
"What I wanted was something like stuffed animals or pet rocks! We could pretend that they were listening to me! I'm a pretend queen today, not a real one! At least stuffed animals and pet rocks don't disobey their rulers!" Sweetie pointed out. The crocodiles gnashed their teeth as they looked at the pups in front of them. "And they're not going to try and eat us!" Sweetie screamed in terror as she started to take off running, with one crocodile chasing after each pup.
She knew she would never be able to do this on her own. She needed help…
Ryder smiled as he watched the pups play charades and pretend to be animals. It was easy to forget that the pups were still very young. Even though Zuma had just turned six this June, they all acted far older than they really were when they were on missions. It was this precious off time that allowed the pups to get in touch with their inner selves, explore who they were when they were off duty.
Suddenly, the pup pad rang, causing Ryder to pick it up. To his surprise, it was the royal pup Sweetie. "Sweetie?!" Ryder asked in suspicion.
"Ryder, HELP! I was playing pretend queen and Claw went to go get me subjects. He ended up freeing the animals from the princess's personal animal hospital and now the crocodiles are after me and Claw! I can't find Ben anywhere either and I'm afraid he's been hurt! I don't want to become crocodile chow! PLEASE HURRY!" Sweetie screamed in fear and desperation before the call abruptly ended.
For a moment, he considered the idea that this was another trick from Sweetie. However he quickly concluded that this couldn't be the case. The fear in the terrier's eyes was genuine. And although Sweetie had stated she was the one behind the crown thievery, Ryder had a sneaking feeling that she was covering for her boyfriend. He had to leap into action. All the pups were right there in front of him: no need to press the button on his pup pad.
"PAW Patrol, to the Air Patroller! We've got an emergency on our hands and paws!" Ryder ordered.
The pups all nodded their heads as they ran to the plane with Ryder. Their jet took to the skies after Ryder and the six pups sat down. "What's the situation, Ryder?" Chase noted as the mechanical arms hadn't dressed them in their Air Patrol gear.
"We've got big trouble in Barkingburg, animals have taken over the castle!" Ryder told them.
"We're going to Barkingburg? Then that means this is…" Chase gasped.
"A MISSION PAW!" The six pups cried out together in excited unison.
"That's right! Extraordinary missions call for extraordinary vehicles and gear! Robo-Dog, put us into stealth mode!" Ryder affirmed, and the Air Patroller transformed into a sleeker, black form as it flew to Barkingburg, nearly breaking the sound barrier as it accelerated. A platform in the middle of the lake with a bridge over it emerged, and the Air Patroller landed on it before the platform took them into an underwater base. "Time to gear up, Mission Paw style." Ryder announced as he and the six pups went into an elevator that took them down to a control room, with Ryder pressing a button on his pup pad and their pup tags reacted accordingly, dressing them in new gear.
"Mission PAW, ready for action, Ryder sir!" Chase shouted.
"Okay, pups. Animals are overrunning Barkingburg Castle, and we need to get them under control. Ben and some of the butlers have been trapped in the kitchen by an elephant, the Earl of Barkingburg is hanging from a gargoyle, and Sweetie is being chased by a crocodile! We don't know where Claw is, but it's likely that he needs to be saved as well." Ryder explained.
"For this mission, I need everyone. Skye will use her helicopter motorcycle to save the Earl. Chase will use his laser grid to guide and direct the animals that are wandering the halls. Marshall will spray any animals that try to attack us, Rocky and Rubble and Zuma will search for Ben, Sweetie, Claw, and any other people trapped in the castle." Ryder instructed.
All of the pups nodded as they got onto the Mission PAW Cruiser. "We aren't taking the new PAW Patroller today?" Rocky asked.
Ryder shook his head no as Robo-Dog started driving. "Ben's been making more upgrades and modifications to it. That was just one test run, and even if we had taken the Mission Paw Cruiser to the castle, we would have had to go back and grab the new PAW Patroller in order to follow Sweetie. The submarine mode for the new Paw Patroller isn't in the Mission PAW Cruiser." Ryder explained. As they arrived at the castle, they saw the Earl hanging from the gargoyle. "Everyone, you know what to do! Let's save everyone and get the animals under control!" Ryder instructed.
The group all split up, each going off in separate directions. "PAW PATROL! OVER HERE!" The earl shouted out as he dangled from the exterior ornament of the castle.
Skye grabbed the earl with her helicycle's harness and set him down on the ground safely. "There you go. Stay here until we've gotten all of the animals secured." Skye instructed him.
The earl nodded his head. As Chase set up some laser grids to block the animals from wandering into certain parts of the castle, he coaxed a hippo through the halls, but it fell down a hidden chute. "Ugh, we'll have to find that hippo…" Chase groaned before radioing Ryder and the others.
"I'm on it, I'm already scanning for the animals." Rocky announced over their communications.
"I hope Ben's doing okay… he was in the castle when those animals got loose." Marshall commented.
Inside the castle, Ben groaned as the elephant sat down in the middle of the hallway and snored. The only way out of the kitchen was through that corridor, and the elephant was right there in the middle of it. "Stupid fat big eared jungle thing. Oh, Sweetie, I hope you're okay…" Ben murmured worriedly.
As for Sweetie, she was panting as she ran for dear life while the crocodile chased her, snapping its jaws at her hungrily. All of a sudden, she ran into a suit of knight armor and it tumbled over onto her, getting her stuck in the metallic gear as the croc drew closer and closer. Shaking the armor off of her, she saw her robotic frog minion Bubsy lying on the ground, and the crocodile sniffing it. "Busby!" Sweetie shouted in terror as the croc then clamped its jaws down on her beloved toy minion.
Chewing a few times before gulping down her toy and spitting out the bitten, torn off head of the knighted amphibian robot, Sweetie stood there frozen and felt something wet and warm run down her leg. Bubsy was gone, just like that. If the crocodile's jaws were able to tear through Bubsy's metallic insides like that, then it would certainly be able to rip her to shreds.
The robotic frog was all that she had left of her mother. The pup to the queen, her name was Elora. After giving birth to Sweetie, she had given the frog to her child to remember her by before passing away. Elora had succumbed to illness when Sweetie was merely two years old. Now nine, much of her memory of the woman who had brought her into this world had faded. Busby was all she had left of her mother…
Letting out a belch, the crocodile thumped its tail against the floor before straight up sprinting at Sweetie. Too terrified to move a muscle, the terrier let out a blood curdling scream and shut her eyes tightly, waiting for the end. An angered howl merged with her scream and the moments passed, she heard scuffling and snarling.
Opening her eyes, she gasped as she saw a sword protruding from the crocodile's mouth, pinning it to the ground. Claw stood on top of the crocodile, using his pocket knife to hack and slash at the crocodile. Gashes all across its scaly body, the reptilian swamp creature gave Claw a look of horror, something that made Sweetie pause. Claw didn't have to kill it, he could have distracted it somehow. Yes, the crocodile had just tried to devour her, but she didn't think that it deserved to die a painful and bloody death like that.
Paws scampering across the ground could be heard as the fire pup and the police pup of the PAW Patrol arrived on the scene. "W-what the…?" Chase gasped at the sight of the bloodied crocodile corpse.
"How could you do such a thing to that crocodile, Claw!?" Marshall yelled in outrage.
"How could I?! I already did it to the other one, and I'll do it to anyone that tries hurting my Sweetie. Those wretched things were trying to eat us for lunch!" Claw argued.
"That doesn't mean that you had the right to kill them!" Chase protested.
"They're wild animals, they don't listen to anyone, not even the humans that are treating their injuries! They weren't going to stop if I asked them politely! They were trying to KILL ME AND SWEETIE! I did what I had to do, and you would have done the same as a police officer just as I did it as a knight!" Claw snarled.
Sweetie felt a pang of fury as she realized those were the exact same words she had said to Claw earlier when she scolded him for letting the animals loose. Now he was using those words to defend his actions!? "Don't you dare compare yourself to me, you...!" Chase hissed, baring his fangs.
Her legs hurt from all of the running and the adrenaline was leaving her body. "BOTH OF YOU, SHUT THE HELL UP! Claw saved my life, but that doesn't excuse him taking the life of others! You're not exactly guilt free either, Chase. Maybe if you and your team had been able to navigate the castle better, Chase, then it wouldn't have gotten to such a point and I wouldn't have nearly gotten my arse bitten off! My legs are aching, I was so terrified that I soiled my suit! Worst of all, that stupid beast ate my beloved Bubsy, the only item from my mother that I had left! I'm going to go get a bath and rest! TA TA." Sweetie snarled as she broke up the argument between the two of them.
The bubble bath that she enjoyed was pure bliss, letting her relax and think of cleanliness and things away from the mess that her life was. One of the maids even offered to clean her stealth jumpsuit, which was a massive relief. She thought she'd either have to wear the now smelly thing, or be forced to do more dress up parties with the Princess. That evening, as the PAW Patrol spoke to the Princess about what had happened, Sweetie explained her perspective, and Claw was compliant in admitting what he had done.
"I was only trying to bring Sweetie what she wanted, subjects! I didn't know it would go so wrong…" Claw whimpered, giving the princess puppy eyes. "Aww, I can't be mad at you for wanting to make your girl happy." Princess Bethany cooed as she patted Claw on the head.
"Still, the fact that two of the animal hospital patients were attacked like this by our knight should not go unpunished." The Earl sternly said.
Ben raised his hand, and the Princess motioned for him to speak. "I don't blame Claw for stepping in and fighting the crocodiles. His life, and the life of his mate, were in danger. He acted upon the most primal instinct of all canines: protecting their loved ones. However, he also went too far. The crocodile that was after Sweetie was clearly subdued with the sword in its mouth, the additional mutilations weren't needed. Therefore, I say we give Claw a warning to tone back that sort of behavior." Ben proposed.
"An excellent idea, young Benjamin." The Earl conceded.
All of this talk about procedures and punishments bored the white west highland terrier. "May I be excused? I'm awfully exhausted from all of that running around." Sweetie grumbled.
"Why of course, precious poochie! You are excused." The Princess chuckled. Sweetie yawned as she wandered away from the group and to her royal bed, drifting off to dreamland.
Sweetie looked around. They were at the Barkingburg carnival, and she saw a fortune telling stand. Perhaps she would indulge the old woman who could supposedly see into the future. "Miss, what do you see in my future?" Sweetie asked the seer. The old woman peered at Sweetie and then let out a disturbing cackle. "My, I haven't seen anything this dark for ages! You will lose what you hold most dear: your home and your owner." She wheezed.
"That's preposterous!" Sweetie scoffed.
"Allow me to show you, my dear. I hope that what you see in my crystal ball sets you on the right path." The fortune teller snickered, before tossing a crystal ball onto the ground and smashing it.
A dark crimson fog shrouded Sweetie, causing her to cough. When it cleared, she saw that she was somehow in the castle, and she could smell smoke. What looked like remains of the Paw Patrol's vehicles were lying across the castle grounds.
The normally cheerful music that the princess played throughout their home was distorted and reversed, an unsettling feeling welling up within the terrier's soul as she started to run. As she sprinted through the corridors, she saw the silhouette of a man with an eagle on his shoulder sword fighting someone and stabbing him in the chest. The other man collapsed to the ground, motionless. Hurriedly, she ran over to the wounded man, and was horrified to see the earl lying in a dark red puddle. She heard the startled cry of the princess and turned around to discover Claw advancing on her owner, who was accompanied by a Dachshund in black knight armor.
"Claw, what are you doing?!" The princess gasped.
"I'm taking the throne for my queen!" Claw snarled, before he changed into a dragon and breathed fire on the princess, charring her and her companions into ashes. And at this, Sweetie screamed in terror and horror.
Her blood curdling scream split through the castle, awakening everyone inside of it. Claw burst through the doors and ran up to Sweetie's pup house. "Sweetie, what's wrong!? Did someone try to hurt you!?" Claw demanded.
"G-GET AWAY!" Sweetie shrieked at him, backing up and running out of her room and leaping into Ben's arms.
"Sweetie, what's happened?" Princess Bethany asked her pup.
Sweetie didn't respond, only giving a choked sob. "Is there anything I can do for you, my queen?" Claw asked the terrier. Sweetie looked at him with a gaze of absolute terror… almost as if she was scared of him. Ben noted that. "Just… just let me spend tonight with Ben, Princess. Please." Sweetie pleaded.
Ben nodded and took the pup into his arms, cradling her. Whatever was scaring her, he'd figure it out and help her.
Today, July 4th, marks a special day. It is not merely just the Day of Independence for America. It is also a day of great personal significance to me. Exactly one year ago today, on July 4th, 2022, at 4:31 PM, I was at my aunt and uncle's house in Indiana when I decided to pull out my computer and begin writing a Paw Patrol fanfic that would take the canon events of the show and adapt them for an older audience. Capturing the same magic of the early seasons, while also incorporating the content and characters of the newer seasons, to create a balanced blend of the two eras of Paw Patrol. And here we stand today, with over 300,000 words written on Rescue Force (the story is written well in advance, which is why I'm able to upload at such a consistent rate). In just a little less than a week, the publication anniversary of Rescue Force will be here, July 10th.
I want to thank all of you who read this story. Everyone who's reading this right now, I'm thankful that you all are giving me and my crazy idea the time of day. I'm not gonna ask for much in return- I don't need that much art, haha, and the wonderful friends that I do have in this community come through when I really need them. All I ask is that you try to leave comments/reviews on this story, and give me your thoughts and feedback on every chapter. That should be easy, right?
Here's to more Rescue Force in the future! Dunno whether I'll be adapting the Mighty Movie or not, or Season 10, but we'll see.
SHOUTOUTS TO AVIWASLOST AND THEIR STORY PAW PATROL PERIWINKLE AS WELL AS GRACIOUSLY ALLOWING ME TO USE THEIR OC CRICKET IN THE MOVIE ADAPTATION, WHICH THEN LED INTO CRICKET GETTING HIS OWN SPINOFF SERIES. IT'S STILL IN THE EARLY STAGES OF ITS PUBLICATION RIGHT NOW BUT EVENTUALLY WHEN AVI UPLOADS ALL OF THE ORIGINAL CHAPTERS, THEY'RE GONNA START POSTING ADAPTED EPISODES OF THEIR OWN FEATURING CRICKET AND THE PAW PATROL PUPS!
ALSO SHOUTOUTS TO THE ULTIMATE THEORIST RODENTRACER, WHOSE MIND WORKS IN TOP GEAR AND IS GENUINELY ONE OF THE SMARTEST PEOPLE I'VE EVER MET. IT'S ONLY BECAUSE OF HIM THAT THE SEASON THREE FINALE FEATURING HIS CHARACTER GIZMO EXISTS, AND PUPS IN THE REAL WORLD, OUR AMAZING SIDE PROJECT EXCLUSIVE TO ARCHIVEOFOUROWN!
FURTHERMORE, SHOUTOUTS TO SONICTHEFOX ON DEVIANTART, WHO MAKES AN AMAZING FAITH BASED PAW PATROL AU AND DOES FANTASTIC ART. HE DID ALEX'S PAW PATROL UNIFORM AND DESIGN.
SHOUTOUTS TO YOURBOIMARIO, WHO IS AN AMAZING ARTIST THAT'S BEEN GOING THROUGH SOME ROUGH TIMES. WE'VE GOT A COLLAB WRITTEN UP ALREADY THAT'S GONNA BE PUBLISHED IN THE FUTURE.
SHOUTOUTS TO TDJ/TWEAKJAFOLF/TWEAKEDGE ON DEVIANTART, THEY MAKE KILLER ARTWORK AND THEY'RE ONE OF THE ARTISTS FOR RESCUE FORCE!
LASTLY SHOUTOUTS TO COLORGACHAGAMERYT/SUPERGACHA123COLOR ON WATTPAD AND BRACKENSTORM268 ON AMINO! COLOR'S GOT A NEAT AU OF THEIR OWN, SO DOES BRACKEN, AND BRACKEN ALSO DABBLES IN OTHER FANDOMS! BRACKEN AND I ALSO HAVE SOMETHING IN THE WORKS FOR THE FUTURE!
THANK YOU AND HAVE A GREAT FOURTH OF JULY!