When at last the mail arrived at 3:00 PM as it always did, six pups tore out from their pup houses, racing each other to the mailbox that stood around eighty feet from the Lookout, near the road. Chase, refreshed from his night of sleep and clearly the fastest pup in the team, was already in the lead. Right behind him was his best friend and eager opponent, Marshall. Zuma and Skye were right on their tails, yapping at each other about who would be the first to pass the clumsy fire pup. Rocky, motivated but unenthusiastic about feuding with his teammates over who would get the mail first, stayed at a simple jog. Rubble was in the back. This would definitely not be the case if the pups were racing to Mr Porter's, or the new treat store half a mile across town.

"Almost there!" laughed Chase as he tauntingly blew a raspberry and shook his behind at the others.

Marshall scoffed. "Get a life, Cha... oh, look! A penny! How 'bout tha- Woah!"

Stopping to admire a penny, head-side-up as is rumored to be good luck, turned out to be quite the opposite for the spotted firefighter. Zuma and Skye, still playfully barking at one another, crashed right into the distracted fire pup. They all fell on top of each other, Marshall rubbing his back from hitting the pavement. Chase stopped and turned, looking at his friends. Rocky and Rubble did the same.

"You guys okay?"

"No... I hurt my paw," whimpered Skye as she held her left paw aloft.

Chase, always one to worry for the Cockapoo at the first sign of danger, came forward and looked at it.

"Hey," said Zuma, "it doesn't look that huwt."

"Boop!" shouted Skye, thrusting her supposedly hurt paw to poke Chase's nose. It was a trick.

Taken aback, it took the others to realize too late that Skye had fooled them before she rushed at the mailbox, leaping to open it.

The others stopped and stood near, watching the small pup repeatedly jump to reach the handle.

"Ha, ha, ha," said Zuma in a slow and mocking tone. "Looks like someone can't weach the-"

The Lab was interrupted by Skye flipping onto his back, before doing a somersault onto the top of the mailbox.

"Admit it. You boys would be lost without me," grinned Skye as she nudged the handle down with her nose, opening the mailbox. She leaned down, sticking her maw into it to retrieve the letters in her teeth. After doing so, the aviation pup did a flip, leaping down onto the pavement and mockingly dusted herself off.

As Skye ran back to the Lookout, the five boys in pursuit, Chase gave Zuma a small grin.

"Beaten by a girl. You're growing slower by the second!"

"At least I didn't stop to smell the woses!" Zuma shot back. Were it out of fear, concern, or just a good old-fashioned crush, Zuma could not place his paw on it. But he knew that Chase was always the first to make a big deal out of one of Skye's injuries, or practically faint out of relief when she was revealed to be all right. Needless to say, Zuma really enjoyed teasing him about it.

When the pups returned to the Lookout, Ryder awaited them.

"You guys got 'em?"

"Yup!" Skye chirped, handing the letters over to Ryder. He thumbed through them.

"Fan mail. Treat coupons. Fan mail. Fan mail. Fan mail. Aha!"

Ryder pulled out the small package of ten tickets, complete with a travel guide of the beach and insurance for their flight.

"Well guys, did you get your bags packed?"

"Check!"

"Treats packed?"

"Check!"

"Sunglasses with faded lenses for looking cool while resting on the beach?"

"Uh..." trailed Chase as he checked their pup packs. "Check. Check, check, check! Let's hit it."

"Hellos?"

"Huh?"

The pups questioned Ryder's words before remembering that Carlos, Tracker, and Liberty had been invited.

"Oh, how rude of us," muttered Marshall, shaking his head. "Are they gonna get here soon?"

"Well, one-"

"Hey, gang!" yipped a voice from behind, scaring the living daylights out of a certain Dalmatian, who leapt into Ryder's arms after letting out a short, high-pitched screech of terror.

They all turned to see the dachshund standing before them, looking quite cheerful.

"Sorry," she chuckled. "Didn't mean to scare ya."

"I'm fine," grinned Marshall sheepishly before leaping down from the safety of his owner's arms.

"Nice to see you, Liberty," greeted Skye with enthusiasm.

"Nice to see y'all too... Skye, Marshmallow, Rummy, Rumble, Chair and Zippy."

The pups looked at each other, dumbfounded.

"Just playin', just playin'," Liberty muttered in response to her own confusing sense of humor.

"It's an honor to have you here," said Ryder. "Tracker and Carlos ought to be here soon. For now, let's wait on them. I'm going to get the emergency guide for Jake and Everest." Ryder then went into the elevator, and headed to the top floor.

"Daaaaaaaaaannnnng," Liberty said in awe, looking around in circles. "It's been a while since I've been here. Did you guys get a new paint job or something?"

"Yeah, from blue to white. Nice change of pace," replied Chase.

"Let's not wander off topic," said the dachshund, her paw pointing out as if accusing Chase of a crime. "It's been eight months. Catch me up. How are y'all?"

"Uh, we're fine," the pups said in unison. But the sassy city-slicker's extroverted nature was not letting them off the hook so easily.

"Oh, come on," groaned Liberty before getting an idea. Snatching up a red ball in her teeth and tossing it up, the dachshund watched as it landed in front of Marshall.

"Marshall, Marshall, Marshall. My favorite firefighter. How are ya?"

"Uh, I'm okay. Still tripping on my own paws every now and then, so..." He trailed off, not sure what Liberty wanted to hear.

"Okay, okay. I see how it is. Y'all are gettin' bashful on me. Well, just wait. Before this trip is over, we'll all be chatting up a storm. Just wait. You guys got any water?"

"Like tap?" asked Rubble.

"No, water. You got any?"

"That's what I mean. You want tap water?"

"H20. As in the stuff Zuma likes."

"Just follow me, we'll get you some," said Skye, growing tired at the simple misunderstanding. "Cool," shrugged Liberty as Skye, Rubble and Zuma led her to the water bowls.

A honk outside followed by a bark alerted the pups that the two guests had finally arrived.

"Well, look who it is," said Chase, eager to get the vacation started.

"Oi, oi! There's mi amigos!" exclaimed Tracker joyfully as he leapt in, tackling Chase, Rocky and Marshall before happily licking them across their faces. The four laughed together and wagged their tails rapidly as Carlos came in after his pup.

"Long time, no see," stated Rocky simply.

"There was a power outage in the jungle for four weeks, we had to get it fixed," explained Carlos.

Ryder came out from the elevator to greet the guests, and had all the pups pack into the Paw Patroller for the trip to the airport.

"Thanks again, Jake," Ryder said to the snowboarder gratefully when he arrived.

"Really, it's our pleasure, dude."

"Have fu... uh... ah... ah-CHOO!" sneezed Everest. "Have fun," she finished with a sniffle.

"Sorry to hear about your cold. Well, Everest, I'll make it up to you. Wanna come with us next time we go on vacation?"

"Sounds good," replied the Husky with a gentle smile.

"Don't miss us too much," joked Ryder before heading into the Paw Patroller and driving to the airport. The pups all sat together in the vehicle, unaware that half of them were about to undertake the most perilous journey of their lives.