Chapter fourteen: Snow Job

"I think we should start with the slope.." Everest suggested. "What do you think, Jake?"

"I don't know, what do you think, Ryder?" Jake asked, sending the question over to the young leader.

"Well, what all do we have to clear?" The boy asked.

"Well the walking trails and the slopes and I think some of the other roads and trails further down the mountain." Everest recited from memory.

"That's a lot of areas to clear.." Ryder thought. "Rayla? How should we handle this?"

"Easy.." The golden lab asserted. "We divide and conquer. Rubble can clear the walking trails, which he's probably more familiar with. Everest can clear the lower trails and roads, which may be more difficult to navigate unless you know the mountain.. And Rocky can help us devise a creative way to clear the slopes.. I've got an idea that he might be able to help us with. And the rest of us can split off and follow along as back up."

"Want me to go with, Everest? We marked the trails before, a few weeks ago." Snowflake offered.

"Actually, I was thinking you could help Rubble, Skyler and Marshall on the walking trails up here near the cabins." Rayla suggested. "Since it seems you were up here to help with this very thing before, you could be quite helpful for remarking where the trails go."

"Okay, but I've only been up that way once. How will I know where to go? Unless the flags are there from before, or I notice a landmark, I don't want us to get lost!" Snowflake returned nervously.

"You could still be helpful.." Rayla reassured her. "And that's all that matters.. You probably know more than the rest of us.. Other than the pup who lives here that is. Ok now.. Skye, Ned, Brian and Zuma you pups can help Everest plow and re-mark the lower mountain trails and thankfully Everest knows the mountain well enough to tell you where to mark. And since there are several of us to split up we have pups that can help clear the snow and a couple to mark the paths."

"And for the groups that don't know where to go.. Jake has a map to follow,.. Which means we can send him with Rubble and the others." Everest suggested.

"Perfect! That means Ryder can stay here with the rest of us, so he can still be in close proximity to Chase in case something were to happen." Rayla supposed thankfully.

"I guess the PUP Pals are on the case today.. and on the same strike team no less." CiCi commented, bumping paws with Tiny, Rayla and Chester in unison.

"Ummmm. 'Strike team'? But there's no strikes here. Only in bowling and baseball," Ned pointed out.

"She means they are on the same team," Melody clarified.

"Good. Let's get going," Snowflake said, before walking over to Marshall.

"Oh yeah,.. Melody I almost forgot.. You can be with Rubble's crew and help them with the marking and snow removal." Rayla said, when noticing Melody turning toward the cabin behind them.

"Actually, could I stay here and help Chase. Who knows how Boomerang and Kylie are doing, and it would be nice to relax while keeping an eye on things. In case something happens," Melody suggested shyly.

"Sure, that's fine, they might actually appreciate the extra backup. Cause as we know Boomerang's not exactly a spring chicken anymore, if you know what I mean. And even if Kylie can wrangle Chase all by herself.. I bet she'll be glad she doesn't have to do it alone." Rayla reasoned with a shrug.

"Good to know. Glad I can help!" Melody replied before wagging her tail and walking into the cabin through the dog door.

"But.. Boomerang is a dog, not a chicken! What does that have to do with Spring?" Ned asked, clearly confused.

"Well, what do wild animals do in Spring?" Snowflake suggested with a smile.

"They have little baby- Boomerang's going to have babies in the Spring?! But, he's a male. Female dogs have puppies. Wait, so he found a mate and will be a father?! Oh my goodness! We should go congratulate him! Come on!" Ned exclaimed while trying to make sense of the Boomerang comment. The light gray and white husky's tail wagged before making a mad dash for the cabin door.

"Ned! Not in THAT matter! Rayla means Boomerang doesn't have the energy he use to have, so he can't exactly keep up with a younger, stronger pup like Chase!" Brian exclaimed in an almost annoyed matter-of-fact voice.

"Oh. Okay, I'm sorry," Ned apologized before his ears folded back and he walked over to Rubble.

"Anyway,.. time to make like a banana and split!" Skyler announced. "Let's snow play- I mean plow the day away!"

"As long as it doesn't take all day.." Tiny remarked, with a humorous grin, to those among his team. "Then we're good."

Then as the pups split off to their vehicles or rides.. Melody finally reached the cabin and slipped through the doggy door. And when she entered, she glanced around till she saw a blizzardy head poking out from over top of a couch arm. And curiously wandering over, she found Boomerang laying amongst a ruffle of fabric and a German Shepherd pup laying at his side with Kylie sitting next to him, softly stroking the pup's back from the shoulder. However despite their apparent efforts, the pup seemed to occasionally fidget and/or shift positions to try and get comfortable but was failing either way.

"Nnn.. Ih!..hm.. *sigh*.. Inh! *groan*" Chase fussed, clearly becoming frustrated by now.

"Shhh.." Kylie hushed softly, trying to keep the tender touch going, even when Chase would move suddenly, and without warning.

"Is his shoulder hurting him? What's wrong? Chase needs to rest, and unless the word was rephrased, I don't think rest means 'to remain still as a statue for a day'?" Melody said as she watched Chase try to change positions.

"No,.. but he does need to rest.." Kylie softly murmured, keeping her focus on Chase all the while. "And he didn't exactly wanna come with us to begin with.. He did this all on his own.. Though I think he just needs a little help relaxing.. but unfortunately I'm not sure I'm as good at it as some pups, at least when it comes to Chase that is.."

"Let me try," Melody suggested, before carefully jumping up on the couch. She lay next to Chase before gently nuzzling him and giving slow, soft licks with her tongue.

Chase reacted immediately with disgust and snuggled into Boomerang a little more, however the angle of his neck made him turn his head back toward the two pups again.

"Well that didn't work." Kylie sighed, as Chase heavily sighed. "What now?"

"Maybe simply give him a minute and see if he can work it out himself." Boomer suggested.

"Ok,.. but..-hah!" Chase abruptly thrust his shoulder up so he could adjust his limbs under him. "He's not exactly calming down.. much.."

Melody looked at Chase before thinking of a few ideas. She put a paw on his belly and started to rub it.

"Good boy, Chase," Melody said softly.

Chase groaned, but didn't fight it. However, when he shifted onto his other side so his back was to her, he seemed to find the right way to lay to at least stay still, even if he still seemed agitated by something.

"No belly rubs for now. Okay," Melody commented softly.

"Never really was his thing from what I understand." Kylie informed her, watching him tenderly.

"Okay," Melody said as she watched the sleeping Chase.

"He's finding his comfort spot.." Boomerang observed. "Let us hope all this rest has an arrow effect on him to get him back on his feet again."

"Sure hope so." Kylie sighed. "It'd be nice to see him get back to normal again."

"Agreed," Melody added, sighing too.

xxxx

"Ok Snowflake.. where does the trail start?" Rubble asked, when pulling his vehicle to a stop.

"It starts.. there," Snowflake said, pointing to a nearby orange flag.

"It's buried in the snow.." Rubble mentioned squinting at it. "But I'll get it!"

Easing forward, he was able to scoop away the snow to create a clear path again and one of the scoops of snow retrieved the flag, which he turned toward Snowflake to take out of it.

Snowflake nodded.

"Hopefully the snow didn't bury the flags completely," Snowflake said, looking forward to where the group was heading.

"Good thing I have the map," Jake mentioned, holding the marked paper up confidently. "That might help us find the trails again.. and a lot faster."

"Then I guess we'll just have to keep our eyes open." Rubble figured. "Right pups?"

"Right!" The four pups agreed, then Rubble advanced to clear the path further..

xxxx

"Skye, keep a lookout for the flags.. We'll need 'em if we're gonna remark the trails.." Everest instructed.

"You got, Everest.. checking now." The cockapoo replied, flying up higher with her wings to scan the snow-covered terrain.

"Wouldn't it be easier to sled on the snow while pushing it?" Ned asked with his tail wagging.

"Maybe, but there's nothing wrong with getting in some exercise. It feels good sometimes," Brian replied to his brother.

"I'm not even sure how you would successfully do that, dude." Zuma shook his head. "Snow can be heavy.."

"Especially large amounts of it.. and this mountain gets tons!" Everest confirmed.

"So you're saying all this snow needs to be cleared? We'll be here till Spring cleaning this up! And we might only get half done." Ned commented.

"Not the entire mountain, Ned. Though it does make me concerned about the snow flooding the town when it melts.." Brian clarified before turning to Everest.

"Don't worry that's all been taken care of.. We have designated waterways that take the water elsewhere.. So the town doesn't get flooded.. but obviously there's no guarantees." Everest informed them.

"But that's why it's a good thing we're here.. The PAW Patrol can handle any situation, thanks to Ryder's amazing vehicles and rescue gear.. We never know what he'll come up with next." Skye added when hovering low towards them.

"But it's always totally awesome!" Zuma agreed proudly.

"And it's usually tailored specifically to each pup, so that's even better." Everest piled on.

"Well of course. He's not going to make you pups something that can't work for emergencies. That would be odd," Brian commented.

"Found another flag.. Let's keep going.." Skye announced.

"Lead the way, Skye," Everest replied. "You find the flags and we'll retrieve them as we clear this snow."

"Snow problem!" Skye chuckled, making everyone else laugh with her.

xxxx

"Ok Rayla, what's your plan?" Ryder asked as they all reached the top of the slopes and peered down.

"Well I thought,.. that if we had something long and heavy, we could use Rocky's forklift to plow down the mountain and clear the snow away quickly.. Then we can use the good packing snow for molding obstacles and stuff." The golden lab replied.

"I don't know if my ride is powerful enough for that." Rocky wondered.

"Hm.. it might be.." Ryder thought, fitting a curious hand around his chin. "But we'd need to design something that could move the snow out of the way so you don't get stuck and buried in it."

"You'd almost wanna make something like a plow or something.." Tiny supposed suggestively. "Something that's angled to deflect the snow away from the vehicle's path."

"What about bent sheets of metal?" Rocky wondered. "I have some really big ones back at the Lookout, but they might be too big for my rig.. I might need my-"

"Your ultimate Recycling vehicle! That's perfect!" Ryder exclaimed, "If we can get the metal sheets fitted to your ultimate recycling truck, it should have all the power we need to clear the slopes."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Rocky smiled. "Let's go get my truck!"

Then racing off, the mixed breed hopped into his truck ready to go..

"One of you can ride with me." He said. "The others can hitch a ride with Ryder or Rayla."

"Good thing I opted to drive today.." Rayla grinned, bounding over to leap into her military jeep in two long strides.

"Right behind you, Ma'am!" CiCi called, jumping into her backseat.

"On deck, captain Ryder sir!" Chester declared when hopping up onto the back of Ryder's vehicle and saluting formally where he sat.

"Guess, I'm going green today." Tiny figured, barely crawling up into the vehicle from the small hop he'd mustered.

"Alright!" Rocky cheered.

"We're on a roll!" Ryder announced, signaling a vertical hand to the path in front of them and they set off back down the mountain.

xxxx

"So Melody, where are you in the order of the four of you?" Boomerang asked, now that Chase was finally fast asleep.

"First. Then Brian, Ned, and Snowflake," Melody answered.

"Really?" Kylie piped up in surprise. "I would have thought Snowflake was the oldest.. She seems so.. Mature and leader-like.."

"That's how she's been. Even when we were younger," Melody confirmed.

"Sure seems like you all act alike.. family bonds tend to be hard to keep with us dogs. What with all of us finding new homes and families of our own.. sometimes far away." Boomerang mentioned thoughtfully.

"Thank you, Boomerang. Same with us, since we have our own families too. Plus personal interests too," Melody agreed, wagging her tail.

"Such as?" Boomerang hinted, appearing genuinely interested to the husky pup.

"Well, I'm more into nature, Brian is into sports, Ned is into ghosts, and Snowflake likes playing with the grandkids," Melody replied.

"I see.. And do you pups all live in different places or are some of you still living in a home together?" The aussie continued thoughtfully.

"Different houses, but in the same town. If that makes sense," Melody returned.

"Well at least you're still nearby.." Boomerang supposed.

"Hey kinda sounds like the PUP Pals." Kylie mentioned brightly, giggling but had to stifle it when Chase stirred and shifted, remaining asleep.

"Well we all moved to different towns before returning," Melody clarified.

"How long were you apart?" Kylie wondered.

"Two or three years," Melody answered.

"That's not very long.." Kylie supposed optimistically. "What were you guys up to in that time?"

"Oh you have no idea.." Melody said, her ears going down a bit and Melody obliged in continuing her story.

Hello everyone! Sup ya'll, we got another chapter out for you guys! And the fun of this next scenario is only just beginning! So here we go! We'll see you next time! Thx!