PAW Patrol: AQUA PUPS ~ Paws and Jaws!

Chapter one: Deep Sea Dive!

"Almost there, pups." Ryder said, swiveling around to face the pups from the Whale Patroller's helm. "What are you planning on doing first when we get there?"

"Well first I wanna check in with my cousin and see how things have been going.. cause we always like to know how are merpup friends are doing." Skye said sweetly.

"Then we should play bubble tag!" Marshall said.. "Coral is the best tagger.."

"Just make sure you don't float away inside one of her bubbles like last time." Chase chuckled, making others among him laugh too.

"Hehehe, I guess that would be bubble trouble.." the Dalmatian joked with a big grin. "But good thing I have some of the best poppers around to help me."

"That's us." Rocky smiled proudly.

"We got you, buddy." Rubble agreed.

"Hey look, there's Puplantis." Chase said, swiveling his chair to peer out the window next to him. "We're here!"

"Then let's get in gear and go find Coral." Ryder said.. "Chase?.. Skye?.. lead the way!"

Then howling to the yip of their friends' barks, the Cockapoo and German Shepherd raced off for the hatch, which gave them their scuba gear..

XXXX

"Welcome back, Aqua pups!" Coral greeted brightly. "Fintastic that you could come visit us again!"

"And this time, without any emergency calls." Ryder smiled, allowing himself to float in place with the pups in their scuba gear doing the same.

"Shh, don't say that! Or something might go wrong!" Rubble hissed, looking around nervously.

"It's ok, Rubble.." Coral beamed sympathetically. "We'll be ok.."

"After all.. we're Aqua pups.." Chase asserted. Then was distracted by a shadow falling over them and they finally looked up and a bunch of various swimming shapes dove down towards them. Revealing themselves with happy or at least responsive gestures.

"Aww.. it's our fishy friends!" Coral squeaked, giggling as each species gravitated to their respective pups.

"I think they wanna play with us." Rocky guessed, and their happy faces seemed to confirm this.

A shark swam in front of Chase, turning him around with the motion of the large fish's movement through the water and drew him away as the others wandered in the other direction. The German Shepherd could've sworn that the look in the eye of this big fish looked at him a little differently; which is what compelled him to follow.

And about this time, he realized that a group of five or more had come with it to surround him, calmly swarming him but not crowding him.

"Wow, there sure are a lot of you." Chase remarked, when a pointed nose nudged his shoulder.

"Woah, easily there, big guy!" The pup cautioned with a smile.

xxxx

"Hey.. where's Chase?" Marshall realized, searching around behind them when noticing an absence among the group.

"I feel like we're missing some fishy buddies too." Zuma commented, as they began to double back.

Suddenly they heard a giggle and followed it further around the corner to find the swarm of sharks around a mesmerized Chase.

"Uh-are they hurting him?" Skye asked worriedly.

"Aww! They're playing with him.." Coral swooned.

"I don't know.." Ryder supposed unsurely. "Sharks are sensitive creatures.. and they're very strong too.. It can be dangerous for Chase to be swimming with them all by himself.. It's why you should always swim with a buddy so you can stay safe."

"Should we go tell him?" Marshall asked.

"I'll do it.." Coral offered, about to swim away.

"Hold on, we don't wanna startle them with Chase right in the middle of the group. Let me call him on his pup tag." Ryder said, pulling his pup pad out.

xxxx

"Aw, you guys are alright." Chase asserted, as they all paused from their swimming to look at him. Just then his pup tag flashed and the sharks all scattered back away from him slightly.

"Oh.. it's ok guys, that's just my pup tag." Chase told them.

"Chase, it's not safe to be swimming with the sharks by yourself.. lead 'em back this way to where we can see you." Ryder's voice crackled through the flashing tag.

Then the German Shepherd turned and looked back to see them watching from afar.

"Oh.. right Ryder, sorry.." Chase realized. "Come on, sharky buddies!.. Let's go back this way.."

Chase swimming back toward them was a relief, and the sharks, who had calmed down by now, followed; even though they were slightly hesitant to do so.

"Glad you could rejoin us, Chase." Ryder smiled.

"Thanks.." Chase smiled. "Sorry for wandering off.. the sharks must have had something to show me. We'll stay close from now on.. safety in numbers and all."

"Glad to hear it.." Ryder replied, sending him a thumbs up.

"Now who's up for a game of bubble tag?" Marshall asked.

"Oh oh, me! Me! I am!" Various pups responded.

And they all swam off toward Puplantis with their ocean critter friends in tow.

xxxx

Marshall held the fin of a dolphin while Rubble tried to stay on his hammerhead friend. Skye pretended to wade through the water on her manta ray steed while Chase and Zuma surfed atop their respective buddies. Coral giggled when launching herself off her seahorse, rocketing through the water with her fishtail propelling her forward as she bombarded Ryder with bubbles even trapping him when they all merged into one big bubble.

"Look at that.. a floaty Ryder!" Marshall joked.. heartily laughing alongside his friends.

"I got you, Ryder!" Chase barked, propelling himself forward to pop the bubble.

"Thanks, Chase." The boy smiled. "Anybody wanna play again?"

"I've got an even mer-velous idea!" Coral piped up. "Let's go play capture the pearl!"

"Cool!"

"Great idea!"

"Ok!"

"Yeah."

"Wah-hoo!" The pups all responded, racing each other toward the castle.

However with their departure from the open waters, a presence poked out from around the building they had just entered.

"Look, McSquidly.." Moby told his little buddy, pointing at the main courtyard of the Puplantis Castle.

"Everyone always sings and dances and celebrates with parties because King Merpup said so.." the former mer pup complained bitterly. "But he isn't here.. which is my chance to make some changes around here.. My way!"

"Starting with that statue!" He announced, pointing the entire length of his paw at it. "McSquidly, fire up the Moby Mobile! I have a plan.."

xxxx

"Ok we got two pearls,.." Coral announced happily, as they swam back out of the pearl room. "Now let's go out to the open coral reefs just outside Puplantis.. that'll give us plenty of space to hide and seek the pearls once each team finds them."

"Sounds great!" Skye gushed excitedly.

"Let's go!" Ryder said, and they all turned and followed Coral out away from the castle.

And as soon as they were far away.. a squid-like flurry bubbled down and dropped something. The little yellow squid poked out, then grabbed the netting that was deployed from the Moby Mobile and secured it around the golden statue. And once he'd made it back inside the ship.. Moby's pleased chuckles faded into the whirr of propellers and the dragging of metal.

xxxx

"That was a good game.." Rubble commented, as they swam back toward the castle again.

"Who knew you'd be so good at capture the pearl, Marshall.." Coral commented. "Especially with all the funny corals around here."

"That's our Marshall.." Skye smiled.

"Yeah! He has ways of finding things like no one else!" Rubble giggled.

"What can I say? Skye's not the only one who keeps a sharp eye.. with a little help from my head.." Marshall giggled, even though some pups were a little confused, yet they all still enjoyed the moment.

But looking straight in front of them, they all gasped, blinking a double take that recognized a problem for all of them.

"Oh no! The statue of King Merpup! It's gone!" Coral gasped. "Oh.. and I was supposed to make sure nothing terrible happens!"

"Why would someone take the statue?" Skye asked, floating closer to her cousin.

"It's just a decorative statue, right?" Rocky asked.

"King Merpup has been the greatest Mer King to ever rule Puplantis.." Coral told her friends sorrowfully. "I was left in charge of safeguarding Puplantis' most prized possessions while he is away on an urgent mission beyond our waters.. and no one knows when he will return."

"But who would wanna steal his statue?" Chase asked. "Do they not like him?"

"Of course not!" Coral gasped. "Everyone loves him! In fact, he was the one that united merpup-kind by encouraging their sweet songs with music and parties.. he was the one that started many of the traditions and celebrations we have now."

"Well whoever took the statue might have taken it because they either didn't know this.. or didn't care.." Ryder figured.

"I could see it being Mayor Humdinger again.." Chase mumbled to himself.. for only a few friends to hear.

Ryder looked over at the German having heard him, but said nothing.

"Either way, we gotta find the statue.. Aqua Pups.. to the Whale Patroller!"

xxxx

"Aqua Pups ready for action, Ryder sir!" Chase declared.

"Great.. now we all know that the statue of King Merpup was taken.. and we gotta find out who did it.." Ryder said.

"And why.." Chase added.

"Exactly, which is why.." Ryder swiped across his pup pad screen. "Chase.. we need your detective skills to get to the bottom of this.. look for any clues on who took the statue and which way they went."

"Chase is on the underwater case!" The pup responded.

"Coral.. I need you to talk to the merpups and find out if anyone saw who took the statue.." Ryder continued.

"By land or sea, you can count on me!" The ocean pup replied.

"And I'll need all Paws on deck to search the kingdom and help Chase and Coral find that statue." Ryder went on.

"Alright!" Marshall nodded.

"Let's do it!" Rubble agreed.

"We got this!" Zuma barked.

"Yeah!" Rocky howled.

"Alright! Aqua Pups are on a roll!" Ryder announced, releasing all pups to launch their vehicles systematically.

xxxx

"Alright, what do you got, Chase?" Ryder asked.

"I don't see any marks around the spot where the statue was.." Chase deduced, "..which means it must have been lifted up,.. but something that heavy can't have stayed floating for long.. unless whoever took it has a really powerful ship."

"Good thinking, dude." Zuma agreed.

"Everybody fan out and look for anything that might tell us which way they went." Chase suggested. "Scuff marks, broken buildings.. anything.."

"You got it, Chase!" Rubble called as all pups scattered in different directions. All the creature styled vehicles were now scanning the areas around them, when Chase was bumped loose and he tensed over his steering control to maintain the balance of his vessel. Then a shape panned across the left side of the sub and he looked into a rather odd-looking eye as it swam by.

"A shark? What are you guys doing now?" Chase asked, the strange look the creature gave him still nagging at him. Then he noted the erratic swimming pattern and the slight rush there was to it as he swam off.

"Hey wait! You're swimming too fast, you're gonna crash!" Chase called, speeding after him. He tempered his speed so not to compromise his control, but hoped it'd be enough to catch up to the shark..

He seems so off balance.. could he be hurt? Chase wondered. However, coming around toward the back of the castle, the shark suddenly veered off and on the other side was an orange lobster!

"Uh oh.. Zuma, watch out!" Chase called, trying to steer away.

"Woah, dude!" The chocolate lab gasped, turning sharply.

Chase sideswiped Zuma anyway and was sent wobbling upwards while Zuma plunged downward into a castle tower that came apart all too easily. And when he looked up, he noticed just in time that the tower was falling and ejected himself from the vehicle; moments before the debris came down on it in a cloud of sandy dust.

Annnd I'm back again! And what a fun story it was! I have been wanting to do this kind of story for a while, but never really had the right amount of inspiration for it, until I watched some more of the Aqua Pups episodes, which therefore inspired this little beauty!

I was originally gonna tackle this story as one long or rather short story.. But then I decided to break it up for easier editing purposes. And I was intending for it to be a countdown till Thanksgiving. But I guess it'll actually be a countdown to Thanksgiving. Three days.. three chapters.. Hope you enjoy starting with this one! Thx!