Chapter thirty-four: The Act of Fun!
"I hope Chase has a good talk with Franklin, Maggie, and Billy," Melody said positively.
"Yeah, and YOU NEED TO COOL OFF!" Brian snapped at Ned.
"What? What did I do? I apologized and wasn't going to drive! Honest!" Ned said, his arms up in a surrender position.
"Ned, we love you and your goofy personality, but I think you need to stop a bit. It's kinda getting to everyone in a bad way," Melody explained.
"So I'm annoying? Like really annoying? But, I can't just turn it off; it's part of.. me," Ned said honestly.
"You don't have to stop being you, just your goofy antics!" Brian said reassuringly.
"Have I really been that bad?" Ned asked nervously.
"Um,.. well he's already gone off on you twice today." CiCi mentioned rather bluntly. "And I don't imagine it'll be the last for a while."
"You're probably lucky you're still alive right now, or functioning at the very least." Tiny added.
"And that's not even counting last night." Skyler mentioned shuddering at the memories.
"Why does he want to hurt me? I'm goofy yes, but it's not like I tried to fling him out of a catapult!" Ned said with confusion. "I've been trying to cheer him up!"
"Well you did almost crash his vehicle, swerving all over a busy road, with him and Chess in the passenger side, in the middle of the night, when we couldn't see much of anything." Tiny listed off. "If that's not a reason he'd wanna hurt you I don't know what is."
"I had the headlights on! I wouldn't drive us in total darkness! That's super dangerous- even for me!" Ned countered.
"Yes, but driving a big vehicle when you don't know how to drive at all is just as dangerous so what's the difference?" Tiny reasoned. "I don't think having the headlights off would have been much worse."
"So you're saying I would have crashed us even when I stayed on the road? Sheesh, thanks for thinking I'm crazy!" Ned replied, slightly hurt.
"You are!" The PUP Pals cried.
"Ned, it's like Ryder said; you can't do anything until you practice or know what you're doing. If something had gone wrong, all three of you would have been in the hospital. I don't think even you would want that during Christmas," Melody explained sweetly.
Ned's ears dropped as he thought about what his friends said.
"You're right. I really could have hurt us. I didn't mean to. I'm sorry," Ned admitted.
"Apologize to Chase, not us. Plus it would be hard to do rescues WHEN YOU'RE IN A BED, WRAPPED IN BANDAGE, TALKING THROUGH YOUR PUP TAG, DRINKING THROUGH A WATER BOTTLE WITH A TUBE IN YOUR MOUTH!" Brian retorted as he shouted the last part to his husky sibling.
"Ugh, finally! He gets it." Tiny sighed, his tone going flat for the last statement.
"Alright! Alright! I understand!" Ned confessed.
"So what should we do now?" Melody asked the group.
"Ugh, let's just play tag or something.. Or sleep, sleeping's good, or how about snowpup angels! Yeah that's a great idea! Come on, guys, follow me!" Skyler then stood up on her back paws and fell straight backwards onto her back, beginning the sweeping motions of her sprawled legs, while looking up at them with a smile. And even though the rest of them looked a little confused or in some cases disgusted, they just sighed and decided to join her anyway.
"Okay!" Ned said as he plopped down.
"Yay!" Melody exclaimed before jumping into the snow.
"Oh, why not.." Brian monotoned as he joined his siblings in the snow.
XXXX
The Air Patroller's blasters fired as it lowered the new cell tower into place. Then Skye, armed with an electrician and a new cable, began to move in for wire attachment efforts to commence.
"I'll bolt this baby down and we'll be good to go!" Rocky announced hopping up onto the slab next to the new tower's base. "Ruff! Ratchet!"
Securing each bolt, he worked his way around while more work was continuing above him.
xxxx
"Let us down a little lower.." Ryder instructed, so Chester kept the winch moving.
Finally Marshall's paws and Ryder's feet touched down on scorched ground.
"Well,.. looks like the frame is intact.." Marshall commented, trying to sound optimistic but it rang a little more awkward than he'd liked. "It's a little bent but.."
"But what? It won't support you?" Snowflake asked through her pup tag.
"It probably won't be usable again.." Ryder answered for him. "At least.. not for this anymore."
"Yup,.. this plane will have to be totally reconstructed with all new materials." Marshall added with a borderline tone.
"Well what about melting it down and repurposing it?" Zuma wondered. "Metal is melted all the time for that kind of thing right?"
"Yes, but I think he means the way it is right now it can't be used for anything." Chester figured.
"Do you even know if that thing will stay together once we start lifting it outta there?" he called down to Marshall.
"We'll just have to find out," the Dalmatian replied back, glancing up for a moment. "All these panels seem loose, but who really knows how well they'll hold together once we get this thing secured for removal."
"Would you really be able to do anything with all that bent up metal?" Rayla wondered curiously.
"Sometimes if you take a blow torch to it, you can melt it just enough to reshape it." Ryder mentioned, still assessing the remains of the crashed plane.
"I don't know, Ryder, it seems pretty destroyed to me." Marshall said, nudging a piece of debris with his paw. "'Sure seems like a melting pot is the best way to fix this."
"You let me be the judge of that." Rocky smiled proudly.
"But not here," he added abruptly. "It's too dangerous. I'll just take a look when we get it somewhere safe."
"Good. So now what should we do?" Snowflake asked curiously.
"Well, I guess we.. drop the nets and see if Ryder and Marshall can get them in place for the Air Patroller to pull it out." Rocky supposed.
"From the looks of it,.. They'll probably need to do it in trips." Rayla observed.
"Sounds good to me. But where do we put the metal after lifting it? The only location is in the valley below. And I doubt even sections would fit in Rocky's upcycle truck!" Snowflake pointed out.
"Well, the construction crews waiting down there will assess all the debris of the wreckage once we pull it out and fly it out of here to them." Ryder said. "They may be able to help Rocky cut pieces that'll fit in his Reuse-It truck so we can repurpose it unless they have a better use for it."
"Sounds great.. I doubt half a wing could fit into Rocky's upcycle truck so the metal could be turned into something like a statue. Hehehe," Snowflake agreed, joking about the last part.
"And that's why we'll have to dismantle it so it will." Ryder said. "But we'll just have to wait to hear back what the construction crews will say about its salvageability."
"Awwww. So we might not be able to make a giant metal dog bowl? Bummer. Hehehe," Snowflake replied, giggling.
"Don't count that out just yet." Rocky mentioned. "Even if they decide they can salvage it, they might be willing to let us keep a few pieces to make something. They'll have to get more metal to finish the salvage operation anyway. Though there's a very big chance they won't be using it for the same thing again, unless they decide to melt it because of the defectivity and safety risks. They'll probably decide to scrap the metal and dump the other materials and start all new and fresh to rebuild the plane.. If they rebuild it at all."
"Alright, thanks Rocky!" Snowflake responded happily. Suddenly, a thought popped into her head.
'Wait, I was joking!' She thought to herself. 'Is he serious about the giant dog bowl?.. Is that really what I or Ned sound like when we take the pups joke seriously? Kind of odd to be on the opposite side of the joke fence.'
"Cell tower all wired up!" An electrician announced. "Now to restore the power and we can test the service. Everybody clear!" Another workman nodded when the area was cleared and turned to the terminal next to him. Switching the power on, he turned back to the electrician and held a thumbs up.
"Ryder! Care to do the honors?" The electrician called through his megaphone.
Ryder smiled and paused his assessment to take out his pup pad and call a number of his choosing. When the electrician's phone rang, he smiled when answering it.
"Looks like we have a proper connection," he said.
"And now we can let you know we're almost ready to salvage the wreckage." Ryder replied.
"Well with the repairs completed, I'll be running diagnostics to be sure everything is in order here, but I'd say we're pretty much good to go. And you can finally network with the construction teams down below to give them the heads up," the electrician returned.
"Sounds good, call us if you need anything." Ryder smiled then hung up. "Ok, pups, let's get this going, send down the nets!"
The remaining pups on the edge of the cliff pushed the heavy pile of neatly composed nets over the edge and they somehow fell just as neatly as they had been sitting where they were. And as soon as they came down, Ryder and Marshall set to work spreading them out, so they could send them over the wrecked plane.
"Those nets are heavy,.. but will they be tough enough to handle all that bent and twisted metal?" Rocky wondered, peering down on their leader thoughtfully.
"They should hold up just fine. Especially since they're designed for this very thing!" Ryder's voice crackling through the mixed breed's pup tag was a momentary thing when it started to flash.
"Hey, look at that! We're back online," Chester deadpanned, pointing a loose paw at Rocky.
"Awww. Don't be so glum, Chess! At least with the power working, we can play Pup Pup Boogie and stay warm when we get back home?" Snowflake chimed in using her own pup tag.
"Who said I was glum?" Chester quoted in borderline confusion, cocking his glance over toward some of the other pups.
"You just didn't sound all that happy about getting the power back on," Snowflake clarified through her pup tag.
"That's called sarcasm.. Deadpanned tones mean something totally different." Chester clarified with a shrug.
"Okay. I was just slightly confused," Snowflake replied through her pup tag.
"Why?" Chester wondered, shrugging again.
"No offense dude, but you can be hard to read sometimes." Zuma mentioned.
"Am I?" The German Shepherd queried, raising an eyebrow. "-Well I have been accused of being a little misleading at times. Guess I have a better poker face than I thought."
"I'm not sure that's what Chase would call it.." Rayla remarked openly. "Or us for that matter."
"Ok point taken," Chester surrendered, "but that's what I would call it, plain and simple."
"Good to know. Now let's get back to work.. Wait, what do you mean 'poker face'? We don't play cards!" Snowflake commented to the pups as she walked over to them.
"Dude. Come. ON!" Chester chirped. "Why does a poker face have to only equate to poker?"
"Because it's called the poker.. face for a reason." Rayla deadpanned bluntly.
"Who even still plays that anyway?" Chester wondered, shaking his head.
"A lot of people.. believe it or not," the golden lab returned. "Just ask the military people."
"Ugh, of course.." Chester groaned.
"Ok, I think we're ready to bring in the Air Patroller." Ryder called, pulling out his pup pad. "Time for the first lift job, Rubble."
"We're on it, Ryder!" The bulldog responded.
Suddenly a wind whipped up around them, and the pups braced themselves as they peered up at the big plane hovering in for the pickup. The hook lowered and dropped into the ravine next to them. Ryder was able to get a hold of it and hooked the net loops onto it.
"Ok, ready to lift!" Ryder announced, safely stepping back with Marshall with his pup pad in hand.
"Going up!" Rubble called back. "Let's go, RoboDog!"
The robotic pup barked his response, then pulled up on the yoke. The Air Patroller slowly rose up and the creaking and screeching of the metal wreckage jostled within the industrial netting, but it never loosened as they flew away.
"He'll be back for another load soon." Ryder said, still watching him go by shielding his eyes from the sun. He then lowered it to look at Marshall. "Let's get the other net ready. We can switch it out for the other one when they get back."
"Anything more we can do Ryder?" Chester called down to him.
"Now that we've surveyed the area and deemed it safe to begin rebuilding efforts, we can start marking stuff for demolition," Ryder said. "And since pretty much everything is getting demolished we'll need to mark it all so the builders know."
"How? By putting giant 'X' marks on anything getting destroyed?" Snowflake asked.
'Too bad Brian isn't here. He would love this job,' she thought.
"Pretty much," Ryder's voice replied through her pup tag. "Just take out the paint cans I left back by our vehicles."
The group turned around and saw the box that was nearby, right where Ryder said it was.
"Great,.. except.." Chester trailed, turning his gaze back toward the edge again. "We can't exactly hold them?"
"That's why I'm here." Rocky announced confidently, appearing epically with his claw ready to use.
"So how do we label the items? Put a big red 'X' on everything?" Snowflake asked curiously.
"Exactly. That'll let the construction workers know it needs to be demolished." Rocky explained. "That way they can get right to work instead of having to deploy a team to do this part."
Snowflake nodded with a smile, as Rocky grabbed a can and the group dispersed as he walked through them.
"That still doesn't help us,.." Chester openly remarked. "Since that requires a skill we don't have."
"Which is.." Rayla hinted, waiting to hear the elaboration.
"Our paws don't work like that?" Chester revealed, like she should have known this. "We can't grab things like that,.. and even if we could, we walk on four legs not two, we'd have to be circus pups to be able to walk on two legs and spray at the same time and make an 'X' actually look presentable."
"We could always test that theory." Rayla smirked, giving Chess a sidelong look. "They don't get much wilder than you, you could probably qualify for a circus pup."
"Hey! I resemble that remark!" Chester snapped, then thinking about what he'd just said, he rethought his response. "Ok, forget I said that, but I'm no circus pup! I leave that to the real ones."
"Whatever you say." Rayla sighed, rolling her eyes, though her smile still remained.
"Just walk like a penguin!" Snowflake suggested, as she got up on her back legs and imitated a penguin as she tried to hold a paint can in her paws. "Hey, this isn't so hard.."
"Yeah, and how are we supposed to hold that thing and spray at the same time, genius?" Chester quipped, drooping slightly in disgust. "'Cause like I said we can't grasp things like people can. We don't have thumbs to help us."
"No problem- wah! Wooooaaaahhhh!" Snowflake replied, as she held a spray can in one paw, while trying to spray with the other; losing her balance in the process.
After a few moments of stumbling, the husky pup regained her balance and sprayed the paint wildly into the air!
"Ah! Yes! I got it! See? Ahhh!" Snowflake commented as she started to spray the metal, then tripped. As she tried to regain her balance again, Snowflake tried to grab the paint can again, only to spray the ground in a deep blood red dot the size of her paw.
"Oops!" Snowflake said, slightly embarrassed.
"See! Didn't I just rest my case?" Chester confirmed, gesturing to Snowflake.
"Ok, ok, we get it.." Rayla groaned in exasperation. "We'll just have to let Rocky handle it."
"Hey, I almost had it, didn't I?" Snowflake retorted with a smirk.
"Oh sure,.. ALMOST had it." Chester nodded in an unconvincingly positive manner. Then standing up on his back paws he went on to say..
"Got it-.. Got it-.. Wah! Don't got it." Wiggling around off balance and then falling to the ground, his dry tone at the end signaled his reenactment of her failure. And all Rayla could do was facepaw herself with a sigh.
Snowflake frowned.
"Ha! Not so easy, is it? At least I didn't fall over!"
Chester rolled himself onto his side to stare at her dryly.
"You do realize I was impersonating you, right?" He asked bluntly.
"Yes, silly. But I didn't fall over! Only stumbled," Snowflake replied. "But enough ruff housing. Let's get to work!"
Chester just groaned and begrudgingly stood up to follow after the rest of the group.
And we're back again! I just love how the pups work off each other.. Including my characters against my partners.. Their dynamics have facilitated many unpredictable scenarios that have made writing interesting for us as much as it does you guys. You just never know what you're gonna get with this group of characters and that's what makes it fun! Hope you guys are still having fun and we'll see you guys next time! Thx!