Hello once again. Here's chapter 4. Hope you like it.

Read and enjoy.

Marshall, Skye, Everest and Zuma were all watching the latest episode of Apollo the Super-pup on the big TV in the Lookout lobby. It was a recorded one. The whole team already had seen it, but it was common for them to rewatch episodes they liked several times. This one was about the return of the Queen Wasp after the imprisonment of the Spider King.

"No matter how many times we watch it, Apollo never ceases to amaze me," Marshall said.

"Yeah. I love it too even though I'm more of an outdoor kind of dog," Everest added.

"Same for me dude. It's…wait for it…Apolloing." Zuma laughed at his own pun while the others just looked at him with unamused faces. "What," he asked when he noticed they weren't laughing.

"Your jokes are funny Zuma, but maybe you should leave puns to Marshall. You're not very good at it," Skye explained gently.

The labrador accepted his defeat. "Fair enough."

Suddenly, the TV went off.

"Hey, what happened," Zuma asked.

Marshall took the remote that was in front of him and pressed the On/Off button. It did nothing so he tried other buttons. Same results.

"The remote is not working too. Or is it just the TV?," he said.

"Seems like a power outage to me," Everest suggested as she tried to turns on the Lobby lights.

"Ryder installed a back-up generator so we can still perform rescues if the power ever went out. The TV should turn back on any second now," Skye said.

The four pups looked at the TV and waited. Five seconds. Ten seconds. Fifteen seconds. It was still turned off.

"That's weird," Skye admitted. "Maybe there's a problem with the generator too."

"We better go check it out," Everest proposed.

The pups ran to the elevator to go to the basement. Marshall was the first to reach it. "Yes, for once I'm fi…" Marshal thoughts were interrupted when he tripped on a toy and hit the glass doors head first.

BAM

The other pups stopped while Marshall slowly slipped toward the ground. He then shook his head.

"I'm good."

Being used to Marshall's accidents, they took his word for it. What surprised them, however, was that the elevator doors didn't open like they should have. It has never happened before. This proved that the power was out and the generator wasn't working.

"Okay, now something is definitely wrong," Zuma said. "We better call Ryder."

He tapped his pup tag and said their owner's name. Normally, the device would flash two times then stay lit, indicating the communication link was open. This time, it didn't. Zuma repeated the action. His pup tag stayed inactive. Seeing this, the other pups tried to contact Ryder or someone else from the team without success. Worried, Skye ran to the front door to see if it would open. Once again, it didn't. Zuma did the same with the closet while Marshall went to Ryder's workshop and room. None were working. They tried to open them with their paw, but failed.

"Guys, it's no use," Everest told them. "But I have an idea. With my grappling hook, I should be able to reach the top floor using the hole by which Ryder's pole passes. Then use the slide to get out of the Lookout."

"Good idea. Let's do this," Skye approved.

Everest winked at her friend and ran to the pole. "(Bark) Grappling hook." Just like everything else, her pup pack stayed inactive. "Euh…Seems like it's not working either. Sorry for the false hope."

The three other pups groaned.

"So, let me get this straight. We're stuck inside our own tower with no way of contacting anyone. That's pawsome," Zuma said sarcastically.

"But why? Even with the power and back-up generator out, our pup tags and pup packs should still work," Marshall said.

"Wait. I just remembered. There is a lever that manually opens the front door. Inside the wall on the left," Skye said.

She ran back to the mentioned door, followed by the others who remembered it too. On the left side, just above the ground, there was a square plate on the wall. Sky removed it to reveal a red lever with two handles.

"Now I prefer that. Skye, you pull the lever and we open the door," Zuma said.

Him, Marshall and Everest sat in front of the double sliding door and put their paws where the two parts meet. Zuma gave the signal to Skye who nodded. She pulled the lever as hard as she could. A brief noise of depressurization was heard before the door slightly opened. The three pups pulled each side to widen the opening until it was almost fully opened.

"Yes, we did it," Marshall exclaimed as they all ran out.

None of them noticed the presence of someone else in the lobby standing next to the elevator. An invisible adult human. " Yeah you did it. You made it easier for me ," he thought walking toward the opened door. He pushed the lever back into its original position, closing it. This made the pups turn around.

"Aaaaand now we're stuck outside," Zuma said, clearly annoyed. "Just what is going on with the Lookout today?"

Inside, the man was walking away when his left bracelet trembled two times. He opened it. The countdown on the screen indicated fifteen seconds left. " Time flew by faster than I anticipated. Oh well, I don't need invisibility anymore. " He pressed a red icon. A small white rectangular drone with four propellers, which was also invisible, that hovered above him deactivated the invisible field it was creating. The drone and the man both became visible again under the surprised and shocked pups outside who saw them literally appear from nowhere.

"What the…"

"Where did he come from?"

"What is he doing here?"

The man simply ignored them. The drone landed on his right forearm, attached itself to a strap. and retracted its propellers inside. It now looked exactly like the left bracelet. The man walked to the elevator. A cable shot out from the wrist drone and connected itself to the elevator controls.

"Hey. What are you doing?" Everest asked, but the man continued to ignore them.

The pups couldn't do anything but watch since the door was closed again. The elevator doors opened. The man walked inside and looked at the buttons.

"Basement-Storage," he read. "Interesting."

He pressed the button. The doors closed and the elevator went down. Outside, the pups were still completely bewildered by what they just saw.

"I don't know about you guys, but this feels like a robbery to me," Marshall confessed. "Someone must warn Ryder."

At the construction site, Chase, Rubble and Rocky were petrified. None of them were able to move as they stared at the big pile of debris that just crushed their owner (and a pup). Did it mean he was…gone? Gone forever? This idea crossed their minds and they felt like it had been their hearts that were crushed by the debris. Tears were falling down from Rocky's eyes while Rubble dropped on his belly, ready to throw up. Chase stayed immobile, barely breathing, his eyes empty as if all emotions had left him.

"This…This can't be happening," Rocky sobbed. "It can't…be."

"No, it can't," Chase whispered, so low that the other pups didn't hear him. His eyes suddenly flashed back to life as he said those words. He turned abruptly and spoke loudly. "Rubble, Rocky, you can use your vehicles to remove the debris."

"Wh…What," Rubble asked, having trouble concentrating on the German Shepherd's words or anything else for that matter.

"If there is the slightest chance Ryder is still alive, we must act quickly. Remember your training," he explained. The two dogs were still too shocked to move. Chase knew he had to get them moving fast so he couldn't bother with patience. "NOW," he shouted.

His outburst succeeded in bringing the Bulldog and Mixed Breed back to life. They ran as fast as they could toward their vehicles. Just as they reached them, the debris began to shake. The small ones at the top fell off and the shaking increased. The pile moved as if something was pushing it from the inside. Bigger debris fell off, revealing some kind of energy dome gradually growing. The dome continued to grow until the pile was scattered and then disappeared. The pups couldn't believe their eyes. This was like anything they ever saw. They weren't even sure what it was. Someone coughed and they recognized the voice instantly.

"Ryder!"

They saw the boy standing out behind the remaining debris. He quickly walked out of them, followed by the unknown pup. Chase, Rocky and Rubble immediately jumped on their owner, sending him back on the ground. They licked him like they never did before. They were just so overjoyed to see him alive they couldn't stop themselves. Ryder laughed because it tickled him which made it difficult for him to speak…and breathe.

"Ah ah ah… It's okay…Ah ah. Three…too heavy…Stop."

The three pups finally let him go. The boy sat, covered in fur and saliva in addition to the dust. Nothing new in short. Rocky turned to look at the pup that saved their leader. She was looking at them, smiling, as if she was lost in her thoughts. Seeing the Mixed Breed come toward her brought her back to the real word. Before she could say or do anything, Rocky licked her face.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for saving him," he said even though he had no idea how she did it. He was just happy she did.

Rubble joined them and hugged her. "Yeah. Thank you."

"Euh…You're welcome," she answered, clearly uncomfortable.

She could see Chase staring at her next to Ryder who was standing up. It was obvious he had recognized her from earlier this morning. "So much for avoiding them. This is going to complicate things a lot," she thought as she smiled sheepishly to the German Shepherd who saw right through it. Things weren't going like she had imagined younger. However, as Ryder looked at her, alive, she couldn't bring herself to have any regrets. Rubble finally let her go.

"My pups already said it, but thanks." He kneeled in front of her. "My name's Ryder. And you?"

She briefly hesitated, but figured there was no point in hiding it anymore. "Race."

"Well Race, I never saw the kind of technology you used. It's impressive."

"She's also very good at running from other pups," Chase intervened.

"Obviously. It's in her name," Rubble chuckled which earned him an annoyed glance from Chase. "I'm Rubble by the way. This is Rocky and Chase."

Race nodded, though she already knew that.

"What I meant is that she is the pup that ran away from me this morning."

"Don't be grumpy Chase. She just saved Ryder for pups' treats sake, so drop it," Rocky scolded him.

Chase's ears went down a bit. "I know. Of course I'm grateful for what she did. I just want to understand."

"It was nothing really. Be grateful the energy shield was able to hold so much weight."

"Energy shield," Ryder repeated, intrigued.

Race felt like she had already said too much and looked for an excuse to leave. "Anyway, I was just passing by when I saw what was happening. Speaking of which. I better go back to…what I was…doing. Bye."

"Wait," Ryder called her. "You have nothing to fear from us. You seem preoccupied. Maybe we can help you too."

Race bit her lips. As much as she wanted to stay with them, it was too risky. Or maybe it wasn't anymore? Was it already too late because she interneved? But how could she not. Ryder was about to die and she didn't remember anything about that. Why did this mission become so complicated?

"Ryder! Ryder!" a voice called before Race could respond. It was Everest running toward them at full speed. She came to a stop in front of them, completely exhausted with her tongue out. "Piouf. One second, I never ran like that before. Piouf."

She had been chosen by the others to come to warn Ryder because she was one of the tallest and the fastest. Marshall was tall too, but running wasn't his strong suit.

"Everest? What…", Ryder asked standing up.

"There's a robber in the Lookout. He deactivated all our equipment, including our vehicles, pup packs and pup tags, and locked us outside."

Ryder and his pups were shocked by that, but something that she said scared Race.

"He deactivated everything? Did you see him? What does he look like," she asked the husky.

Everest looked at her, surprised. She didn't know this pup, but answered nonetheless. "Hum. It's a man. Adult. Brown hair. He has a red-black uniform and high-tech devices on his arms. One of them can turn into a drone."

"Oh no. I think I know who it is."

Hearing this, they all looked at her. Chase in particular was becoming suspicious.

"In that case, Race, you can come with us if you want," Ryder said, wanting to go back as fast as possible and keep her close by. "Let's hurry everyone."

Once again she hesitated as they ran toward their vehicles. Having a good idea of who the robber was, she couldn't say no so she followed them. On the way, they came across Marvic who sat against a barrel.

"Wait. What about Marvic?" Rocky asked.

"If you have another emergency go," the man said. "I'll be fine from there. Just call Evan on your way and he'll take care of the rest."

Ryder wasn't sure what to do. He debated with himself for a few seconds before nodding. "We'll do. Thanks Marvic."

Everest went with Chase in his police truck and Race sat behind Ryder on his ATV. They activated their sirens and drove back to the Lookout at full speed. Ryder called Evan to told him about Marvic and the final collapse. The man thanked him and assured he could take it from here. A few minutes later, the group arrived at the tower.

So, what did you think of this. Race finally meet Paw Patrol and a mysterious guy take over the Lookout. Can you guess what he is after? Is Chase right to be wary of Race?
Still no much unawsered questions. That's what make this story fun, no?

Take care and until next time.