Chapter eight: Strengthening The Network

"Say, are Ryder and Rocky okay? They've been gone a while," Melody said.

"Right here, pups.." the mixed breed said, appearing from behind the elevator. "We're almost set. We heard you guys were busy talking so we didn't interrupt.. guess you guys didn't hear us coming."

"Most likely not," Melody replied.

"Ready to help me build my snowflake, Rocky?" Ned asked patiently.

"Just about.." the mixed breed said, while several pups followed Ned over to join Rocky, as they both strode around the elevator to where Ryder was working, with the wood frame they'd just built. "Ryder's placing the last couple clamps that we need to hold the parachute in place for cutting. Then he'll find his machine that'll put the pieces together for us."

"There you go, Rocky.." the boy said finally.

"Now to get the parachute into it.." Rocky said, heading back over to the white parachute and dragging it over to them. He folded it in half with Ryder's help and then folded it into fourths. And finished by folding it one more time so that it was a small acute triangle.

"Ok, now we need a few pups to take a side.." Rocky said, and about five of them stepped up and took hold of the parachute.

"Perfect.." Rocky smiled proudly. "Ryder?"

Ryder coordinated the frame under the pups, where the parachute would fit properly. Then taking the first corner from CiCi, he clamped it in place, then moved down the line around the edges of the folded parachute till it was fully secured in the frame.

"It worked!" Rocky gasped. "It's holding."

"You built it.. of course it's holding." Chester commented confidently.

"And yet you said you weren't sure about the last 'invention' he made.." Zuma pointed out.

"That's because that was a bad idea.." Chester clarified bluntly, "..and it wasn't his."

"Hey! How was I supposed to know my land parasail would fail?! At least I tested it out, before using a different solution for my bonding time with Chase! Besides, it wasn't exactly a bad idea, it just wasn't as secure as we thought," Snowflake retorted defensively.

"Better than the Sir Meals A Lot Adventure I had with Ned that one time. I still got the scar to prove it," Brain commented in a straightforward manner.

"See!" Chester affirmed, gesturing a paw at the two huskies. "I rest my case."

"That doesn't mean my idea was 'bad'. And it still worked! The break system just broke," Snowflake said confidently. "Besides, I'm sure Rocky has had to fix his inventions from time to time."

"Yup.. many times actually.." Rocky admitted with an awkward grin.

"Meh.. even still.." Chester wavered dubiously.

"Would you rather wear armor made of kitchen utensils? Or getting a bad haircut?" Brian added.

At the mention of the hair cut, all four huskies shuddered in disgust.

Chester and several other sets of wide eyes blinked a few times.

"I don't even wanna know." Chester decided, looking away. "Yeesh!.."

"It's not that bad... kinda. Ned and I played pretend knights and our armor was made of kitchen stuff. Problem was we were riding in a wagon that couldn't stop. We were going too fast and no steering wheel. We crashed into a fence, and my shoulder got hurt with butter knives, forks and parts of a cheese shredder. I was laying around for weeks," Brian explained before glaring at Ned.

"The duct tape should have held up. We tested it!" Ned responded honestly.

"Well, we clearly did something wrong. The haircut was worse though," Brian continued before going quiet.

"Turns out the guy who did haircuts for pets did them correctly, but sometimes would mess around. Snowflake got her fur cut so short she thought half her body was gone, Ned was dyed natural green, only for the die to be water resistant. Brian got his fur cut and dyed with an old bottle to the point he thought his fur was bleeding, and my fur was cut so much I almost felt.. exposed. Uuuggghhh!" Melody explained, before shuddering.

"The guy was a prankster, and was fired a week later. Turns out he was famous for these fun mishaps. The place got a new design with a better owner," Snowflake added.

"Like I said.. yeesh." Chester sighed.

"Yeah. It's a much better place now. Thank goodness!" Brian said with relief.

"So, what should we talk about now?" Melody asked.

"Well I'm gonna make the outlines for cutting the parachute, then I'm gonna do the blue one.. you guys carry on.. I'll let you know when it's ready.." Rocky decided, turning his attention to the framed parachute.

"Okay. Speaking of haircuts, do the PUP Pals get haircuts?" Melody asked.

"Or just shed your fur off?" Ned added.

The group of pups were immediately taken aback and confused by this question.

"Um.. no..well Kylie kinda does when her curls get a little unruly." Skyler thought aloud. "But the rest of us just shed like any other dogs I thought you pups would too."

"We do, unless our fur is longer than usual," Melody clarified.

"Boomerang, how did you get your name? Did you like chasing boomerangs when you were younger?" Brian asked the Aussie Shepherd.

"Well actually that's a funny story.." The old dog replied, fondly. "One of the few homes I lived in that actually loved me had a little girl that named me that. She didn't seem to have a particular reason, she just seemed to know it suited me."

"Awwwww. That's sweet," Melody replied.

"I can see why she gave you that name," Brian responded. "It has a nice ring to it."

"Eh, that's what she said too." Boomerang shrugged.

"Any pup want a massage?" Ned asked curiously. And curious looks returned.

"Is that really a good idea?" Chester wondered aloud.

"Hmmmmm," Snowflake hummed before walking around. She looked at all the pups in the room as if observing them. Once she walked back to her original spot next to Marshall, she looked at the elevator.

"Oh yeah, nevermind," Ned replied as he focused again on his folded parachute.

"Ryder... if we had an emergency, would all of us pups be able to fit into the elevator, or would we need to make two trips?" Snowflake wondered as she looked at the elevator.

The various looks of confusion now turned to Snowflake.

"Why?" Chester wondered.

"Not all of us are members of the team." Rayla pointed out.

"We'd be able to fit.." Rubble figured certainly till other unsure looks turned his way. "I mean.. I think we would.. Right?"

"And anyway if there is an emergency with all of us here,.. wouldn't we be able to just dispatch right here?" CiCi pointed out.

"You might be right, CiCi.. it would make the mission briefing easier for us." Ryder figured thoughtfully.

"But what about our gear?" Skye wondered.

"And our vehicles?" Zuma added.

"Almost done with the first parachute." Rocky mentioned making a few more cuts. "Gonna need help switching out the parachute for the next one."

"We can't hit the slide without our gear." Rubble mentioned, as Ryder made his way over to help Rocky.

"And we can't go anywhere without our vehicles." Marshall agreed.

"But you guys can transition them from the ground right? Wouldn't that be fine?" Chester wondered.

"It would.. If we already had our gear on.. That's the whole reason the Lookout is set up the way it is.." Marshall informed him.

"Exactly,.." Rocky spoke up while he and Ryder were switching the parachutes out. "We head up to get our gear and then arrive at the control room for our briefing, then launch down the slide to our vehicles for a swift dispatch to wherever the emergency is."

"That way.. We can be in and out as quickly as possible to handle whatever problem we've been called to fix, as quickly as we can." Skye confirmed.

"Maybe in this case we could do it in a slightly different order." Ryder figured, standing up from finishing the task, letting Rocky take it from there again.

"How do you mean, Ryder?" the cockapoo wondered, cocking her head.

"Well if, say, we were to get a call." The boy ventured. "I could give the mission briefing down here.. And then I send only the pups I need up the elevator to get their gear and head right down the slide. And anyone I need after can either do the same right away after we leave or when they're called to action."

"That's perfect!" Marshall gasped.

"You think of everything, Ryder." Skye beamed, proudly, which earned her a chuckle and a scratch on the head.

"That actually makes sense. Plus, we could use the TV down here for the mission briefing," Snowflake said thoughtfully before pointing to the TV next to Ned.

"Exactly.." many pups among the group replied, somehow in unison, which surprised all of them.

"Wait, Rocky you're going to sew the blue parachute onto the holes of my parachute, right?" Ned asked.

"Yes." Rocky replied. "And I just realized that with the extra pieces we'll have left to make yours.. We can reuse into a second snowflake parachute with an opposite color pattern. So in a way you're still ending up with two parachutes.. One is a white snowflake with a blue background, and a blue snowflake with a white background. Upcycling at its finest!"

"Oh yeah! We can do that! Cool idea, Rocky!" Ned complimented, wagging his tail.

"Thanks.." the mixed breed smiled, still working carefully at cutting the blue parachute.

"Actually.." Ned said thoughtfully, before looking at Chase. "Chase can have the blue snowflake. Since he let me use one of his parachutes for my project, and he didn't make a snowflake himself."

"That's really nice of you, Ned." Ryder smiled. "Good job."

"Um.. ok.. If that's what you wanna do." Rocky replied, a bit taken aback by this. "That's really nice. Kind of like an early christmas present.."

"Yeah, Chase'll be all over that.." Chester deadpanned.

"Chester, be nice." Rayla hissed.

"Ignore him," the golden lab told the husky. "It's a great idea."

"Well, I mean Chase deserves to participate. Yes he's sleeping, but him letting me use a blue parachute from him was nice. So I can at least return the favor," Ned said kindly.

"I'm sure he'd appreciate that," Snowflake agreed.

"Speaking of presents, how many presents are we getting each other? Thirteen gifts per pup?" Melody asked.

"Also, what does the PUP Pals mean? Specifically the PUP part?" Brian added.

"Polite Uplifting Protection Pals?" Snowflake guessed.

"Perky Unique Puppy Pals?" Melody wondered.

"Pleasant Unconditional Pepperoni Pals?" Ned suggested.

"Mmm that one sounds yummy!" Rubble hummed, dreamily.

"Funny you should ask.." Rayla grinned. "After the rescue at the mansion we kinda got this epiphany, thank you Boomerang. That we weren't quite so different from the PAW Patrol once we'd met them and got to know what they're about."

"Even just a short interaction with them.." CiCi continued.

"And what little we learned from Chase.." Skyler added on.

"We decided to give ourselves a name that fit what we were about.." Tiny put in.

"So we called ourselves.." Rayla trailed so that every Pal could join together in saying..

"Pups Unified to Protect our Pals," the small group finished in unison.

"Oh, that's good!" Snowflake said happily, impressed by the name of the group.

"That's a great name!" Brian said with excitement.

"I like it!" Melody complimented.

"That's nice," Ned replied happily.

"Thanks.. We thought so too." Kylie mentioned, with various nods coming from the Pals. "Chase really liked it too. Now his allegiance kind of overlaps in some ways.. But he's fully dedicated to both,.. I mean.. We all know Chase, he never gives just a part of himself to things.."

"He gives it all.." Skyler confirmed boldly. "More than his all actually.. To the point that he sometimes burns himself out.."

"I'd like to rein you in and say he doesn't, but you're right." Rayla sighed. "And I'm afraid that might be part of his problem."

"Which part? His dedication to the PUP Pals and the PAW Patrol?" Skyler asked.

"The dedication part.." the golden lab clarified. "He always seems to give all of himself to things.. Almost too much.. And when he burns himself out things get hard for him.. And he doesn't want to admit he needs a break."

"Are you saying he has to choose between us and them? Please tell me you're not saying that! He couldn't do it last time this point came up.. Rayla how DARE YOU BRING THAT UP AGAIN!" Skyler wailed, dramatically falling flat on the ground.

"Skyler! Are you okay?" Melody exclaimed after seeing the border collie get up sadly. The husky quickly moved around her, checking her paw, chest and other body parts.

"Does anything hurt?! Pulse, heartbeat, and breathing are fine. Wait, maybe you're sad. Shhhhh. It's okay. I got you," Melody said before giving Skyler a hug.

"Relax, Sky, that's not what I mean.." Rayla sighed, making the border collie pop right up again.

"Ok good," she smiled contentedly.

"Easy sis. Skyler doesn't need medical help," Brian said calmly.

"I'm just saying.." the army pup continued. "He chooses to give too much of himself to things that are important to him,.. which burns him out and wears him down.. And if he hurts himself at any point during all that, he has a really hard time coming back from it.. Trauma.. or no trauma."

"He gives as much as he can, and when Chase does too much giving... even when he needs to take care of himself... Chase is so worried about everyone else, that caring is all he wants to do. Yeah, we've been dealing with that. I thought my bonding time would give him a break and help him relax. I mean it kinda worked, but not as much as I hoped," Snowflake confessed, as she summarized what was discussed.

"And I think it has had an effect on him for the better.." Rayla confirmed for her with a smile. "But I think he needs to learn the difference between service time and 'me' time."

"Agreed. Actually, will Chester or one of the PUP Pals be taking over Chase's job while he rests? Temporarily of course," Snowflake wondered, turning to Ryder.

"That's how the PUP Pals work, dude." Zuma beamed.

"We each cover when needed.." Rayla nodded. "But for now it's just nursing him back to peak health and keep him away from his duties till then.."

"Any way we can." Kylie agreed.

"And he's gotta go through me to do it anyway." Rayla shrugged.

"And he ain't getting through Rayla." Tiny smirked proudly. "Nothing can.."

"Well I'm not made of iron,.." the golden lab supposed, "..but I sure sound like one when I get going all drill sergeant and stuff."

"Well, besides the parachute and my hug..." Ned commented.

"Only because you threw it on them for fun!" Snowflake said.

"Of course," Melody shrugged.

"At least you like massages too," Brian chimed in.

"Are we still talking about Chase?" Chester wondered openly, clearly confused.

"We meant Rayla being tricky to get past," Snowflake replied.

"Um.. say what?" Skyler queried to vocalize the confusion of pretty much everyone among them.

"We meant getting past Rayla," Snowflake clarified.

"Ohhhh..." The pups awed in understanding.

We're back! Happy New Year folks! And with it the continuation of this fun holiday adventure. Poor timing on the posting schedule but oh well we'll get it done anyway.

We're falling a bit behind on the writing so if there are weeks we postpone.. that's likely why.. We try to stay at least ten chapters ahead so that we have plenty of time to catch up if we fall behind. Especially so that we can maintain the schedule we have set for you guys.

But anyway for this chapter, we had a bit of fun with the characters and even added some more background to some of them, drawing them all closer it seems which is always fun to see! And with that.. we'll see you next time! Thx!