Chapter seventeen: Live Wire!

"I wonder how the rest of Adventure Bay is dealing with all this snow?" Snowflake asked, sitting in the PAW Patroller.

Chase looked around at the various people clearing snow, till a familiar voice called for their attention and Rocky began to slow.

"PAW Patrol!"

"Mayor Goodway?" Ryder vocalized as the frantic Mayor reached them right as they halted. "What is it?"

"Oh, Chickaletta wandered away from me while I was surveying the damage from all these crashed cars and I can't find her anywhere." Goodway wailed.

"Get me down from here Ryder, and I'll find her." Chase announced.

"Oh no you're not.. You're still under observation." Rayla asserted, sternly.

Chase just gave her a dry look when his eyes wandered away to a motion out of his peripheral vision.

"Oh wait.. There she is.." Chase mentioned in the same monotone voice, making everyone look back beyond the Mayor to find the pet chicken in the window of Town Hall.

"Well that was anticlimactic." Chester deadpanned.

"Seriously guys, I'm fine.." Chase ventured, looking down on some of the pups as they came up to stand next to his side of Rocky's Ultimate vehicle. "I can think clearly now.. I can still help a little today.. Observation or not."

"I'll believe that in a few days when you're officially cleared." Rayla countered,.. "Maybe longer till we know you're really past this."

"Till what? When my body's not busted or my pride." Chase quipped.

"You know what I mean." Rayla shot back, though not in a harsh or mean way.

"Besides, observations are my job. Yours is to rest," Snowflake said from her pup tag.

"Ryder, how does the area look? Should we help or check somewhere else?" Ned asked from his sister's pup tag.

The boy looked up to scan their vicinity, but Chase beat him to the response.

"There's at least three vehicles crashed off the roads and two or three more buried in snow.." the German Shepherd informed them on an open channel. "All the snow needs to be cleared away carefully for us to make sure there's no dangers lurking beneath the snow. Like live wires or sharp broken pieces. Rubble may have to.."

"Chase.." Rayla reminded him.

"Just a suggestion." Chase sighed, clearly becoming annoyed.

"Ryder.. What are we gonna do with Chase while we do all this.." Marshall asked softly, coming up behind the boy so Chase wouldn't hear. "Now that he's rested and gotten some energy back he's gonna keep trying to dive back into working. How can we protect him and watch at the same time?"

"You're right, Marshall." Ryder replied, lowering down to him. "We don't know for sure he's ready to get back to it just yet. We need a way to distract him, but what.."

"I know," Snowflake said, as she came out of the PAW Patroller and over to Ryder and Marshall. "Chase did enjoy being at Katie's place. Why not take him there?"

"Hm.. maybe." Ryder thought. "But Chase is smart, he'll know we're sidelining him.. How do we handle this?.." The last part, they could tell, was his way of thinking to himself out loud, wondering about how to go about the situation.

"Well, the cars can't drive on the road if there's crashes, along with snow and ice. So, what if Chase directed traffic near Katie's place and helped cars get to safer roads while we cleaned up? He could do his job, but stay in one location. Plus he could go into Katie's Pet Parlor if he needed to rest," Snowflake suggested as she thought carefully.

"That-.. might actually work!" Ryder breathed, quite surprised by this solution. "Great idea, Snowflake. And maybe after we get traffic running again, we can have Katie distract him for a little longer while we make sure everything is cleared up around town."

"I might even know who to call." Chester put in. "Also I can run the other end of the detour to keep any other icy joyriders off you guys."

"Looks like we've got a plan.." Ryder decided, standing up again. "Chess, go get Chase's vehicle from the PAW Patroller, then send some cones with Chase. Skye, can you fly him up toward the road near Katie's? We need him to block traffic and divert it from Main Street until we can clear the snow and fix all the damage."

"Sure can, Ryder." The cockapoo replied, lowering her harness then eased over to the Ultimate Recycling Vehicle.

"Yes!" Chase sighed thankfully, as Ryder arrived to strap on his vest and pup pack. Placing the pup's hat on his head gave the German Shepherd such pride, that he stood up where he was, his tail wagging as close to normally as he had been in a while.

"Heads up.." Chester called, tossing something at him. And Chase caught the four cones in a neat stack together.

"I got this.." Chase assured him.

"I'm sure you do.." Chester replied, with somewhat of a joking tone, though they couldn't tell if he was serious or actually joking by making this statement.

"Wait, let me go with him; in case Chase needs a break from directing traffic," Brian said, running up to Ryder.

"I have signs we can put up when I don't feel like directing traffic anymore." Chase mentioned, as Skye's harness came down to pick him up.

"You won't be able to direct traffic for him, cause you're not certified.. but if he needs a break you can help him set up the arrows and detour signs to tell people where to go." Ryder said.

"And keep him company." Skye added.

"Exactly." Ryder agreed.

"You guys go.." Chester waved at Skye. "I'll bring Brian up once I mark the detour from my end. We'll meet you up there."

"Sounds like a plan." Skye said, turning and flying off up the hill.

"I'll have Katie meet you there." Ryder said, pulling out his pup pad.

"Sounds good to me!" Brian agreed happily.

Then hopping into the backseat of Chase's vehicle, Chester drove them off in the other direction and away.

"Hopefully Katie can rein him in up there." Rayla mentioned uncertainly. "I'm not really sure this is a good idea."

"Don't worry, Ray, Ryder's got this." Skyler assured her friend. "I'll betcha he knows what he's doing. If we successfully recovered him last time I think we'll be ok doing it again."

"And every situation's different," Tiny shrugged.

"Which means sometimes we need to take a different approach." CiCi added.

"*sigh* I know you're probably right." Rayla sighed heavily. "Let's hope that's the case today."

"You know he's not going to get back to normal in one day, right?" Snowflake reminded Rayla. "He's not a vase you can just glue back together."

"That's what I'm worried about." Rayla mentioned, watching them go in the distance.

"Well at least we're trying to help," Ned remarked.

"True, which is why I hope between all of us we can hopefully get him back to normal again. In as timely a manner as we can." Rayla specified.

"Agreed. Now let's get to work!" Snowflake decided.

"Wait, what should we do Ryder?" Melody commented, turning to the ten year old boy.

"Well we need someone to dig out the trapped cars so we can fix any damages." The boy began. "Rubble?"

"Is on the double!" The bulldog responded, shifting gears so he could crawl forward.

"I can help pull vehicles to safety, Ryder." Rayla offered. "Since Chase and Chester are busy with Chase's vehicle."

"That'd be great, Rayla." Ryder nodded. "Thanks."

"And what about the rest of us? How can we help?" Kylie asked.

"Well I need a few pups to scan the snow banks for live wires or other potential hazards that could be hidden under the snow.. So.. Marshall, can you lead a few pups on that?"

"Sure can," the Dalmatian responded, coming over to the boy.

"Great, thanks." Ryder smiled. "Just take these goggles and get scanning. And if you don't find anything dangerous in the snow. You can also help dig the cars out."

"Wait, my vehicle can scan for objects in a certain location. I can help look for hazards Ryder," Snowflake offered.

"Oh yeah, great idea Snowflake." Ryder remembered. "You can help the team. I'll send the other pups further up the road so you can start scanning around here. Everyone else spread out all along Main Street till we've scanned the whole area."

"We'll do, Ryder sir!" The PUP Pals responded then set to work up the road.

"Okay," Snowflake said before going to her vehicle. Upon pressing a white button in the back of the vehicle, the metal back flipped up and slid back, revealing two big screens. The husky pressed a green button so both screens turned on. The left screen showed weather reports, doppler colors of green, blue, and purple for winter weather in the area, and any current weather alerts. The big screen on the right showed a big green map of the area; squares, circles and other shapes showing different landmarks and objects. White waving lines were over the shapes covering the green screen.

"Okay. Lower volume on the left screen, and zoom in on the right screen.." Snowflake said as she pressed a yellow button next to the left screen to lower the volume. She then pressed on a black plus button to zoom in on the area.

"Okay. Scan!" Snowflake announced before pressing a blue button with satellite bars on it. The right green screen with lines showed white arches as it scanned the area. Any objects found would be colored dots or lines that she could zoom in from the screen.

XXXX

Skye gently set Chase down in the middle of an intersection and Chase tossed the cones right where they needed to be to block the road behind him.

"Ruff! Megaphone!" Chase barked. "Attention drivers! Main Street is closed." He declared to the waiting vehicles that had started to accumulate. "..an alternate route is being mapped as we speak."

Then a horn honked and Rocky's Ultimate vehicle plowed away the snow from the side street directly to his left. And Chester just happened to be right behind him in Chase's police truck.

"I bring gifts!" Chester announced, skidding around so Brian could leap out toward Chase. "This way folks, I'll lead you around the wreck and on your way!" he added, while driving off back the way he came, now with oncoming traffic in tow.

"And I'm headed back to Ryder to see what he needs next." Skye called down to him.

"Thanks, Skye!" Chase called, shielding his face from the whirlwind from her copter.

"No problem!" The cockapoo replied, flying away again.

"So what are you doing here?" Chase asked Brian mildly, turning his attention back to the traffic and making sure to use his coach's whistle and motion for the cars to go where they were designated to go.

"As backup in case you need a break, and to help in any way I can," Brian answered honestly.

"Thanks, but I don't need help, I got this." The German Shepherd replied lightly, continuing his work with Brian still behind him. But in his head he was thinking..

Great,.. a babysitter.

"Hi Chase, Ryder sent me over to help you."

Ugh! Another one!

"Thanks Katie, but I- woah! Stop!" Chase raced forward, blowing his whistle repeatedly till a vehicle stopped right in front of him and he walked out along the side of the small white pickup truck full with quite a heavy load.

"Sir, this piano you have back here looks a little loose." Chase addressed the driver. "I'd suggest you add another line for security, especially on these icy roads."

"Oh! By golly, you're right." The driver exclaimed, jumping out of his truck immediately. "I just so happen to have another bungee cord already back there. I'll take care of that right away, officer."

"Thank you, your cooperation is appreciated." Chase nodded thankfully, then glanced over at Katie and Brian. "See? I got this."

"We know Chase," Katie replied, raising both hands as if to surrender. "We're just here to watch you work."

Chase just gave them an odd look when he was distracted by the driver coming back up to get into his truck once again, then saluting the police pup with the tip of his hat he drove off on Chase's nod. And he strode back out of the way so traffic could continue under his watchful care.

"I better check the signs," Brian said as he carefully looked at the signs they had in place to make sure they were facing the right way, and not damaged.

And as he was doing this a presence appeared next to him and Katie knelt down beside him as he turned toward her.

"We have to be careful." She told him. "We don't wanna make it seem like we're checking his work. He'll know we don't trust him just yet."

"I'm just making sure they're facing the right direction." Brian replied simply.

"I know, you're being thorough.." Katie smiled. "But Chase may not see it that way.. We gotta make sure he knows we're not making sure he's doing his job right."

Chase was momentarily distracted by Katie and Brian conversing out of the corner of his eye, but shook it off to stay focused on his task.

"Thank you so much for making sure the signs were secure, Brian." Katie emphasized intentionally, so Chase would hear and be distracted briefly once again. "It's always nice to have other friends that care about safety."

"You're welcome, Katie," Brian replied, before looking out for other safety hazards.

Why are they bringing that up now? Chase wondered eerily, then quickly pushed it away to keep his focus on directing traffic.

Brian kept looking around too, but tried to avoid looking at Chase. He didn't want the pup to think he was watching him, because he wasn't intending on doing that.

"It's ok, Brian." Katie told him. "Just act natural. He gets nervous when others act odd around him."

"So.. You want me to snowboard around while observing the roads?" Brian asked jokingly with a deadpan expression.

Katie chuckled.

"Probably not with all these cars around," the girl laughed.

What are they even here for? Chase wondered in the back of his mind, while the rest of him was engaged in his work. Are they watching or are they just making sure I don't stroke..-I mean strike out?

"I was being sarcastic," Brian said before he started to look around carefully, but naturally.

"Hehe.. I know." Katie smiled. "But I bet with all this snow and ice you probably could snowboard down Main Street."

And Brian just laughed at this silly comment.

XXXX

Rayla's jeep spun its tires in the snow, then finally managed to get enough traction to pull another car from the snow. While Kylie pointed out a safe spot for Rubble to dig.

"We're almost halfway there, Ryder." Marshall reported as he and the boy walked along through the busy work site. "What'do we do next, while Rocky plows?"

"We'll meet up at Katie's, I think." Ryder replied thoughtfully. "But for now I'll call around town to check in on some of our friends so we can make sure everybody's doing ok."

As Snowflake looked at her scanner, she noticed that there were little problems in the area apart from traffic having to reroute. However, as she looked closer she noticed a few red dots and lines.

"Wait, why is that line on the side of the road?" Snowflake said before zooming in on a red dot on the far left. Looking even closer, the red dot looked like it had a line next to it. Snowflake looked across the road to the sky and saw some lamp posts. They all looked good, but something was off.

"Wait a minute.." Snowflake said, before carefully running past her vehicle and looking closer at the lamp posts. She walked around on the pavement, as if to circle the poles from a distance. She stopped when she saw one pole was knocked down, and broken glass.

"That pole fell over and broke the light. It's just knocked over. Unless.." Snowflake told herself, before going back to her vehicle.

Pressing some buttons, Snowflake scanned near the poles, and the green screen showed a red line that went past the poles. The husky looked at the other dots and zoomed in on them. One red dot showed a car that was in a snowbank and the other showed a similar line as the first one.

"There's two? But there's no line except on the black lines.. oh no," Snowflake said before jumping off her vehicle. She looked at the lamp poles and upon seeing no black lines above or next to it, she realized what the scanner had noticed. She pressed her pup tag.

"Snowflake to Skye. We have an emergency in progress. Do you copy?" Snowflake said into her pup tag.

"I copy, and I'm right here," the aviator pup responded, appearing overhead. "What's up, Snowflake?"

"Skye, fly along the road and tell us if there's any more fallen lamp poles. Especially if broken!" Snowflake reported.

"Sure thing.." the cockapoo replied, turning and scanning back up the hill.

"I don't see-wait! There is a broken lamppost!" She cried, then looked further back. "*gasp* And Rubble's headed right for it!"

"Tell Rubble to stop! Quick!" Snowflake said before pressing her pup tag again. "Ryder, this is Snowflake. We have an emergency! There are a few downed lamp poles and my scanner is sensing heat. I think the power to those poles is still on. If there's any wires sticking out of those poles, then our vehicles or anything metal could get zapped or catch on fire. There's even a car accident nearby!"

Having heard all that was said, Chase turned around to look down the blocked road at the downed lamp post and the construction pup approaching just beyond it.

"Brian and Katie, pause traffic, I'm going in!" Chase called, taking off down Main Street through the cones.

"What? Chase, hold on, you gotta stay here! Wait!" Katie called after him, but was already too late. So she turned to wave down the drivers and stop the flow of traffic.

"Chase wait! Let the others help! Wait!" Brian cried out, as he watched Chase ignore his comment to go help.

Chase noticed a buried car in his path nearby. And though he knew he wasn't as strong on the one leg, he pushed that away as he made his approach.

"Skye! Heads up!" He called, then time seemed to slow for him as Skye's copter turned toward him.

"Ruff, Harness!" He barked, dropping it down from the helicopter himself and Skye instinctively dove down just enough to catch him in the harness. "Ruff! Megaphone!"

"Rubble, watch out! Live wire!" Chase cried, then barking out his net launcher he eyeballed a direct shot at Rubble's rig bucket and he pulled back with a little help from Skye. And when Rubble noticed this, he slammed on his breaks, bracing himself for whatever danger was possibly to come.

However once they were no longer moving, he cracked an eye open to see he did not crash at all, nor did there seem to be any cause for alarm.

"Huh? Chase, what was that all about?" The bulldog asked.

"There's a live wire under there.." Chase informed him, when retracting his net. "If you'd tried to dig there you could have hit it."

"Hey! You were supposed to stay at your post." Rayla accused, strongly.

"I had to do something.." Chase reasoned. "There wasn't any time."

"Skye was about to handle it." Rayla informed him. "That's why Snowflake informed her and not you."

"To be fair she alerted all of us." Chase returned, pointedly. "And I was closer to him, Skye might have needed back up anyway."

"That one of us could have given.." The army pup returned, explicitly. "You're not ready yet.."

"I made it, didn't I?" Chase shot back.

"And if you hadn't this would have ended entirely different." The golden lab retorted. "Now you need to head back up to Katie's to get looked at."

"Come on, I'm fine.. I did everything I was supposed to do." Chase protested. "It was the right call.."

"Be that as it may you're not.. ready.." Rayla overruled. "Skye.. get him up to Katie now.." Chase just frowned, as Skye took him away again.

Rayla's frown never wavered as she watched them go, even while others among her approached.

"Don't be so hard on him, Ray." Kylie mentioned softly, as she and the PUP Pals arrived at her side. "He was just trying to help.. He's a protector.. It's what he does.."

"That doesn't excuse his reckless behavior." Rayla asserted.

"Reckless.. or brave?" Tiny reemphasized, which got her attention and she turned her glance on them in somewhat surprise, as she began to rethink her actions..

Heyo! We're back! What we set out to do actually worked! We're all caught up and even gotten a little bit ahead. And we'll do our best to continue that so we don't have to delay posting again. Especially since some of the stuff we've come up with has been SOO fun!

As always the banter amongst some of the characters was extremely fun to write! And read through again! ;) XD

And I especially enjoyed the parts with Chase's epic save and Rayla's epic conviction about it. XD

Also this is the debut story/chapter for Snowflake's official PAW Patrol vehicle, which hasn't even been introduced in his OWN stories! How crazy is that!?

All in all, an electric return indeed. Hope you guys enjoyed it and we'll see you next week! Thx!