As Ryder and Lily continued to talk, the pups began debating about why the archaeologist had come to see them.

"Maybe it's because she needs our help to find other hidden high-tech artefacts!" Rocky suggested.

"It could be because of that," said Marshall. "And that's probably why she came to Adventure Bay in the first place!" he added with a gasp.

"Marshall, come on," Skye said to him. "Do you think Lily, the Lily, my heroine who is standing out there, talking to Ryder at this very moment..." Skye faltered, lost in thought again.

"Skye," Chase whispered. "Skye!"

"Wha - what?" said Skye hastily. "Oh, right. Well, Marshall, do you think she would have come from France to Adventure Bay just to ask us for help? We're not even exactly famous."

"It wasn't my idea," Marshall defended himself. "It was Rocky's."

"You suggested it might have been the reason she came here!" said Rocky. "I only said it could be because -"

Suddenly, the sliding doors opened, and Rocky stopped as two figures walked in. One was their leader, 10-year-old Ryder, and the other one was...

"Pups, meet Lily Cadieux," said Ryder as the young woman pulled back her hood, showing her hair, which looked both curly and wavy. "She's an archaeologist who came here from France, and she needs our help."

The pups looked at Lily with awe and inspiration. Skye and Marshall's jaws fell.

"Hi, everyone," said Lily, smiling. She had a soft voice with a hint of an accent. "It's wonderful to meet you all."

"Lily - Miss Cadieux," Marshall began.

"Just call me Lily," Lily told him.

"It's an honour to meet you," said Marshall hesitatingly as he raised a paw.

Lily shook it. "The pleasure is mine," she said. "What's your name?"

"M- Marshall," replied Marshall. "A - and this is Chase, Rocky, Zuma, Rubble," he said as he introduced the rest of the team. "And Skye," he finished, showing her the cockapoo, who was still gaping up at her idol.

"Psst!" Rocky whispered, nudging her. "Skye!"

"Rocky, don't do that!" said Chase, annoyed that the mixed breed was disturbing his crush.

Skye finally snapped out of it and saw Lily looking at her. She blushed. Lily smiled.

"Uh, um..." said Skye uncertainly, unsure of how to begin.

Lily saw this and held out her hand. "Lily Cadieux," she introduced herself.

Skye took her hand and shook it. "Skye," she said, still looking up into Lily's sapphire-blue eyes.

"You must be a big fan," said Lily. Skye nodded and smiled. Lily smiled back, then let go of her paw and turned to Ryder. "Shall we talk now, Ryder?" she asked him. "There's a lot I need to tell you, and I'm not sure if you'll agree to it all."

"Like I said, Lily, it's fine," said Ryder. "Anything to help you."

"Uh huh!" said Skye, face beaming and tail wagging. "Just tell us what you need, Lily, and the PAW Patrol will be ready to help!"

Lily smiled at her confidence. She turned to Ryder again. "Shall we take a seat?" she asked.

"After you," Ryder told her, showing her to a chair nearby. He drew himself a chair as Lily sat down. "Now," he said after sitting down. "Tell us what your problem is, Lily."

Lily brushed her hair from her face, took a deep breath, and began. "When I collaborated with the Red Nexus Corporation, they helped me to finance digs around the world in search of other Ancient Walker artefacts. They managed - with the help of me, of course - to find many strange advanced objects and place some of them in the Walker Excavations. Have you heard of it? The Excavations, I mean," she added, glancing at Ryder and the pups.

Ryder nodded. "Please continue," he said.

"Well, while all this was happening, I decided to continue my research on the ancient civilization. Very soon, I found images of a large disk-like object that was illustrated as a 'time capsule'."

"Come again?" asked Ryder.

"A time capsule," repeated Lily. "A container to preserve objects of information and knowledge until it is discovered by future generations. This time capsule I found was exactly what I wanted, not only because of its strange engraved pictures but because it had the AW symbol, showing that it was made by the Ancient Walkers."

"What's the AW symbol?"

"It's the symbol of the Ancient Walkers, composed of two stylized intertwined letters, A and W," interrupted Skye.

"Correct," said Lily. Skye beamed as Lily went on with her explanation. "So, once I found out about this time capsule's existence, I immediately tried to track it down."

"Why didn't you ask for help from Red Nexus?" asked Marshall.

Lily hesitated before replying, "Because this was something I didn't want the world to know yet. If I told the corporation about it, they would have made it public."

"Oh," said Marshall.

"And did you manage to track it down, Lily?" inquired Ryder.

"Yes, I did," said Lily, smiling earnestly. "And if my research is correct, then the capsule is hidden somewhere around Adventure Bay."

Ryder and the pups gasped. "Wait," said Chase, who had kept quiet but was itching to ask a question he had been thinking about, and thought he now knew the answer. "Is that why you came to Adventure Bay? To find the capsule?" he asked Lily.

Lily nodded.

"Whoa," said Zuma. "This is big. Like, very big."

"But hold on," Skye interrupted again. "Why are you telling us this? If you already know where the capsule is, what do you need for help?"

"Well, I heard from the citizens here that there is a rescue team that is capable of doing anything," said Lily, looking around at the team. "When I heard that, I thought that they might like to assist me in finding the capsule."

The pups gasped, but not as loud as Skye. "Seriously?" she asked, her face bright with delight. "You want us, the PAW Patrol, to help you, Lily Cadieux, the great archaeologist, in finding an ancient time capsule on an adventure of a lifetime?" She took a deep breath once she finished her question. "Do you?"

Lily grinned wide. "Yes, Skye," she answered.

"Yes! We're going with Lily!" exclaimed Skye, her face looking much brighter than before. "Yeah! Woohoo!" She did a double backflip, barked once and giggled, and the other pups laughed along.

Lily looked at Ryder, who was also smiling at the pups' reactions. She grinned, thinking about what a wonderful team they must be.

"When can we go?" asked Skye, hopping with excitement. The other pups, too, looked at Ryder and Lily with eager expressions on their faces.

"Now, if you want," said Lily without hesitation. "And if that's okay with your leader," she added hastily, glancing at Ryder.

"Well, since there aren't any missions, I suppose we could," said Ryder.

"Yay!" said Skye happily.

"As we're going now, we should get prepared, and -" Ryder was cut off by his pup pad, which was ringing. He took it out and glanced at the pups and Lily. "I'm sorry, but can you wait for a minute, please?" he asked Lily.

Lily nodded, and Ryder got up from his chair and walked a few steps away before answering the call. "Hello, Ryder here," said Ryder.

"Ryder!" a familiar voice replied in a Southern accent.

"Hey there, Farmer Al," said Ryder as the farmer's face came into view. "Is everything alright?"

"Not exactly, Ryder," said Farmer Al. "My tractor got stuck in the mud while I was ploughing the farmland. Do you think the PAW Patrol can help me?"

Ryder paused. He turned around to look at Lily and the pups. Amongst them, Skye looked the most overjoyed. Ryder would hate to spoil her fun, especially since it was with her favourite heroine.

"Uh, Ryder?" said Farmer Al, interrupting Ryder's thoughts. "That's awfully a long time to answer. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine, Farmer Al," said Ryder hastily. "Don't worry. The PAW Patrol will be right with you!"

"Thanks, Ryder! It means a lot!"

As Farmer Al hung up, Ryder sighed. He didn't want to do this, but he knew he had to. The PAW Patrol always did what was right. Hopefully, Skye will understand.

He walked back to them, putting his pup pad back into his pocket as he did so. Skye was having the time of her life with Lily. She was asking her many questions, though she had to remind herself that although it was a one-in-a-million chance you got to meet your hero, that didn't mean you could simply spam her with queries. Still, she couldn't help herself. This was like her dream, even though her actual dream involved Chase, flowers, and a marquee.

"Who's your favourite music artist?" she was asking as Ryder walked over.

"Hmm," said Lily, tapping her finger on her chin with a thoughtful look. "That, I can't tell."

"Why not?"

Lily put her finger to her lips. "Secret," she said.

"Ah," said Skye. "Okay."

Lily spotted Ryder walking his way toward them and said, "Hey, Ryder. Are you done now?"

Ryder nodded.

"Who called you just now, Ryder?" asked Zuma.

Ryder hesitated for a moment before replying, "Farmer Al. His tractor got stuck in the mud, and he wants our help."

"What?" said Skye, dropping her cheerful voice. "Does that mean we can't go with Lily?"

"I'm afraid not, Skye," said Ryder, almost regretting even telling them. "I'm very sorry."

"Th - that's okay, Ryder," said Skye, sounding less happy than she was before but didn't want to show it.

Ryder's heart broke. It took a lot to make Skye sad. His voice nearly cracked as he said to Lily, "I'm very sorry, too, Lily. I hope you will understand."

Lily smiled. "It's alright, Ryder. But -" she inched closer to him to whisper, "- if you would still like to go with me, perhaps we could go in the afternoon? I'm pretty sure you would have solved that farmer's problem by then."

Ryder thought he hadn't heard properly. "What?" he asked. "Didn't you want to go now?"

"I could go at any time, as long as it's today," Lily told him. "Besides, it would make the little pup happy. Right?"

Ryder thought about this. It would make Skye happy again, and he'd hate to see her upset.

"Please?" asked Lily. "I need all the help I can get with this."

Ryder smiled. "Alright, then," he whispered back to Lily, and then he looked up to address the pups.

"Pups," he said to them, and they all looked up, including Skye. "We have to go help Farmer Al now, but we will get back to Lily in the afternoon. Alright?"

"Wait," said Skye, her heart lifting. "You mean, we could still go help Lily find the time capsule?"

"That's right, Skye," replied Ryder.

Skye gasped. "Yes!" she exclaimed, punching the air.

"Alright, then," said Ryder, who was full of confidence now that Skye was satisfied again. "PAW Patrol, to the Lookout!"

"But Ryder, we're already in the Lookout," Marshall noted.

"I mean the top of the Lookout, Marshall," laughed Ryder.

"Oh," said Marshall, also laughing. The pups went into the elevator, saying their goodbyes to Lily on the way. Lily replied to every one of them as they passed, and finally, the elevator went up and out of sight.

Lily stood up. "Well, Ryder, I guess I should be going too," she said. "Thank you so much for wanting to help me. It means a lot to me."

"You're welcome, Lily," said Ryder.

"I'll see you soon, I hope," she said. With one last smile at Ryder, at which he returned it, she took a black mask out of her pocket, wore it, pulled her hood back on, and exited through the Lookout's sliding doors.

Ryder stared at her as she made her exit. He went to the doors and looked through them, and saw Lily getting into her car and speeding off.

Ryder smiled as he made his way to the elevator. As he pressed the button to make it go up, he couldn't help thinking about how Lily had kept her mask in her pocket, when in most of the pictures of her he had found on the Internet, she was wearing it. If she had it with her, then why didn't she wear it? Perhaps she took it off on her way to them? But why?

As the elevator came to a stop, Ryder decided to put the thoughts of Lily and her request away for a moment - until they had solved Farmer Al's first.