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Chapter 25: A House to Call Home

By the time the three stragglers arrived at the hangar, the other pups were in the middle of recapping everything that had happened on the Bullet Express. Rocky and Everest jumped into the fray as Ryder listened intently to the several close calls the group had, giving each speaker his full attention and asking questions to those who hadn't spoken. He relistened to the same stories patiently from each pup who felt as though they had something to add. He praised them for their teamwork skills and ability to keep each other safe. By the end of the narrations, all tails were wagging and smiles abounded. Ryder was the best human ever.

Noticing that Gizmo hadn't spoken yet and remained secluded towards the back, Ryder turned his attention to him, "I was working on some of the Air Patroller. I started removing some of the damaged panels. What needs to be done next, Gizmo?"

To say the Labrador retriever was unprepared to be asked a question would be a major understatement. He had been barely paying attention and was focused on the Air Patroller. Sure, he had seen it from afar at the beach, but this was the first real good look of it he was able to get. He knew it would be large - after all, he designed it himself - but viewing a human-sized aircraft up close from the ground nearly took his breath away, as destroyed as it was. With the missing panels he could easily see the inner-workings and mechanics; every bolt, wire, and beam was familiar to the pup. He had already begun making a mental list of parts that needed to be replaced, repaired, or repurposed when Ryder's voice saying his name snapped him back to earth.

At first the boy's question paralyzed the pup. If he were a turtle, he would be hiding in his shell. A few seconds passed by as Gizmo replayed the last few sentences of Ryder's dialogue in his head. After what felt like an eternity to him, the Lab answered. "Well, um, I- You-" After taking a breath to recompose himself, he started again. "Well, a good amount of the frame is going to have to be repaired, so the rest of the siding needs removed. Then once the frame is repaired the new wing can be installed. Wiring and electronics need replacing and the interior will need refurbished with at least basics. Then the panels can be reformed to normal and put back in place, the hole in the hull can be repaired, and engines can be installed. So next step is to remove the rest of the siding from the plane and expose the rest of the frame so it can be repaired. You can store them all in that side room."

"Alright, sounds good!" Ryder agreed. "Rocky, go ahead and fabricate some makeshift tools for the others so you can all get to work on that. The rest of you try to help in any way you can, like organizing the panels I've already removed into that room."

To the boy's surprise, though, none of his pups moved. Instead they watched him with concerned expressions. Chase broke the silence. "But Ryder, that's where you're sleeping."

"It doesn't matter; I was thinking about moving anyway. I can sleep out here with you guys where I won't hit my head."

"What?" Gizmo blurted out, "You're sleeping in there?" As he looked around at the blank stares, another thought popped into his head. "And don't tell me the rest of you are sleeping in the emergency shelters the vehicles turn into."

The rest of the canines glanced around at each other. "It's… where we normally sleep." Rubble eventually divulged. "Were we supposed to sleep somewhere else?"

Gizmo closed his eyes and put a paw to his face. "You mean… to tell me… you sleep in those things every night?!" As he finished his sentence, he slammed his paw to the ground to punctuate his disbelief. "They're supposed to be for when you're stuck out in the wilderness, not for when you're at home."

An awkward silence encompassed the group. Ryder and the pups slowly came to the realization that Gizmo was sorely unfamiliar with the state of the world outside of his island hidden away in the vast blue sea. Before anyone could think about it too much, though, Gizmo broke into their thoughts. "Come on, let's get you guys some better beds," the Lab declared, starting to walk out of the building.

"But what about Ryder? He's too tall for the buildings!" Skye pointed out.

Gizmo paused, thinking about the new piece of information he had been reminded of. Then he smiled, resuming walking away. "Not all of them."

Five minutes of driving later, Gizmo called them to a stop. He wouldn't have needed to, though; everyone realized they had reached their destination. In front of them there was a house that stood apart from all the others around it. Despite being covered in vines and partially blocked by overgrown bushes, it seemed to be in fairly good shape. Then again, so did all the other buildings in its vicinity. It wasn't even how it seemed to be a log cabin style. What really caught their attention was its height. Its scale was fit to humans as opposed to dogs, and it looked like it would be perfect for Ryder. No head bumps, no crouching to walk through the room, and best of all, no crawling to fit through the doors. The bushes on either side would definitely need trimming, though.

"Woah, what's this doing here?" Marshall gasped.

"Yeah," Skye went on, "I thought you said there were no humans on this island."

Gizmo deactivated his boots and hopped off of Marshall's ladder, starting to walk over to the door. "There weren't. This was used as an exhibit of sorts; it's labeled as a historical replica in the archives. What a human house would have looked like. We're on the older side of town, so it would make sense for there to be a historical replica of sorts around here."

"If it's a historical replica, then… What's it a replica of?" Rocky mused.

Gizmo reached the door to the house as the rest of the pups exited their vehicles, with Everest and Marshall helping Ryder dismount from the former's vehicle. Compared to the small pup, the door would have seemed comedically oversized to any of the city residents, though it wasn't for the Paw Patrol. They were used to human sized doors. Gizmo looked up at the round doorknob, somewhat perplexed. "I'll be honest, I've never actually gone in here before," he admitted. The pup walked up the vine-covered door with his front legs, standing on his back ones. Finding himself still unable to reach the knob, he activated his shoes and jumped up, trying to magnet his shoes onto the doorknob. Unfortunately they didn't stick, and he immediately fell back down onto his back paws and tumbled onto his back. Ryder, with the aid of his crutch, walked up to the door as Gizmo rolled back onto his paws.

"Here, let me get that for you," the boy offered, pushing the bush's wayward arms aside. "Are you okay, Gizmo?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," the dog sighed, slightly irked. "If nothing else, it's a good reminder that brass exists."

As Ryder turned the doorknob, Rocky decided to ask a question. "So how did the residents get in?"

"They didn't," Ryder cut in before Gizmo could answer, which was fine by him. He wasn't sure how to reply to the question anyway.

"Wait, they really didn't?" Zuma asked.

Ryder jiggled the doorknob. "If they did, I don't know how they would have. This door's locked. Anyone know how to pick a lock?"

"I kind of do?" Chase revealed hesitantly. "I just… can't."

Rocky nodded, "I've taken apart my share of locks, so I know how they work and how to pick them, but I've never been able to. Paws are next to useless and I only have one claw."

"Looking at the age of that wood, you could probably just smash through the door," Tracker joked.

Ryder pulled off some of the vines from the door and bent down to inspect the doorknob. After a bit of examination, he looked at his recycling pup. "Hey, Rocky, can I get your second opinion on this?"

Rocky jumped into Ryder's arms to get a good look at the doorknob. He barked out his claw and shook the knob slightly, listening intently. "Interesting…" the mechanic observed.

Ryder set the green pup down. "Sounds like it's a fake doorknob, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, as if it's an ornamental knob."

Gizmo stepped back up to the door. "Huh, let me see." The black dog's right satchel opened up and a mechanical arm extended out of it. It resembled Rocky's claw, but instead of two pincers, it had a three-pronged grip. He tried grabbing the doorknob and rotating it, but it could barely turn at all.

"If you listen closely, you can tell there's only one thing stopping it from turning; if it were real, it would first run into the turning mechanism and then into the lock. There's also no spring force returning it to normal like a real doorknob would have," Ryder explained.

Rocky sighed in exasperation. "I can't stand decorative stuff. Why have it if it's just for show? It's completely unnecessary!"

Skye leaned to Everest, "I'm glad that Rocky didn't design our gear."

Chase, however, knew Rocky's weak spot. "Oh, good to know. Guess we don't have to make sure your uniform and gear are green anymore; paint and dye is just decorative too."

"It really is," Gizmo agreed, not recognizing the lathering of sarcasm Chase had added to his voice.

"No, okay- Hold on- I- I didn't mean- That's different! Green is a good color! It's the best color!"

"Ah, maybe. But it's decorative," Skye giggled.

"But- But what am I supposed to say then? Silver doesn't mean go! Green means go!" Rocky objected.

"And red means stop," Ryder cut in jokingly, but with an underlying warning to his voice. His message was clear; they hadn't gone too far yet, but they were starting to push the envelope.

"Any ideas?" Ryder asked the group of canines.

"I might– Ah– Might, ahh… ACHOO!" Before Chase could finish his sentence, a sneeze erupted from him. Startled, a couple small birds flew out of the bush to the right of the door, chirping as they escaped their disturbed resting place. "Ugh, feathers," Chase sniffed.

"Quite a sneeze you've got there," Gizmo commented.

The afflicted pup rubbed his sensitive nose with a forepaw while responding, "Us German shepherds have it the worst. Why do you think we get all the sniffing jobs?"

Tracker inspected the brush, curious about the birds' home. He poked his head inside, and winced at the loud crunching of twigs in his ears. Then the potcake saw something that he was not expecting to find. "¡Vaya! Look! A button… In the side… of a log… cabin?"

"A button? Let me see!" Rubble barked excitedly as he entered the bush next to Tracker.

"A button?" Gizmo asked curiously.

"What's it do?" Marshall yipped eagerly.

Tracker reached out his paw. "Only one way to find out!"

Rocky's eyes widened. "You aren't going to push a random button you just found, are you?"

"I kind of just did."

"It wasn't flashing red, so I think it was okay," Rubble clarified helpfully.

The door clicked, and Ryder found he could push it open normally. "Oh, well that did it! I guess the button must have been what they used to open it up, but the bushes grew too big and hid the button."

The group of ten entered the building. If the amount of dust everywhere was any indication, then this place hadn't been opened in decades. Cobwebs spanned the corners of the rooms and any furniture that inhabited the home had clearly seen better days, though the timber constituting the walls and floor itself seemed fine. Ryder slowly walked in and set his small bag of surviving belongings on a bare table in the middle of the room after flipping on the lights. Apparently the electrical anomaly to the log cabin was seen as too convenient to leave out, even in a replica. Evidently 'Historical Replica' was a loose term for the residents of the town. As the combination of feet and paws aerosolized the dust, Chase instantly regretted entering the dirt-laden dwelling.

"ACHOO! ACHOO!" The sound reverberated through the building.

The other pups started sneezing as well. "I- ACHOO! Think I'm go- ACHOO! Gonna go outsi- ACHOO! Outside," Chase wheezed before racing into the fresh air.

"Oh, sorry pups… You can go back out. The dust is probably a lot worse for you guys than for me."

"Thanks- ah-TCHOO! Ah- ah-TCHOO! Ryder," Skye thanked before heading back outside, quickly followed by everyone else.

Ryder sighed, gazing around. "Well, I guess I have my work cut out for me."

Finally, the pups are going to get to work on fixing the Air Patroller and getting back home. After some better sleeping arrangements are arranged, of course. I think the idea of the pup houses being 'emergency shelters' is hilarious; it's exactly what Gizmo would have built them for, though. He lives in his own house, and would most likely have no idea that dogs typically live in structures like that. It makes you wonder why they do in the show. Dogs are as intelligent as humans, yet at a very different societal level than them. Quite interesting to wonder at how it developed that way, where dogs still have owners. You'd think they'd be more independent as a species. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Keep an eye out for a new one next week!