Five hours earlier…
One evening in Adventure Bay, Ryder was working on his ATV in the Lookout’s garage when he suddenly heard the alarm go off for an incoming call. Running upstairs, he saw four calls coming in at the same time. The first one he answered was from Liberty in Adventure City.
“This is Ryder. Go ahead, Liberty.”
“Ryder, I need some heavy assistance here in the city. A fire has broken out in a large hotel where Humdinger is serving his sentence as a steward. According to him, he was informed by the front desk that several power-strips on the third floor got overloaded and began sparking before the power could get turned off. He got out fine and alerted me, but there are still several guests trapped inside. The front doors have collapsed and the fire is trying to jump to other buildings on either side.”
The next call was from Everest.
“Ryder, I need help up here. Two skiers are trapped at the top of the mountain and there is a snowstorm raging. I’m on my own; because Jake broke his leg yesterday while snowboarding. The skiers are trapped because the lift has malfunctioned and stopped working.”
The third call was from Rex.
“Ryder, this is Rex. The volcano in my area has erupted violently and lava is coming towards several nests where dinosaurs have their eggs. I need help calming the dinosaurs and keeping the lava away from the eggs.”
The last call came from Tracker.
“Ryder, I am dealing with a potentially toxic problem in the jungle here. There are polluters dumping toxic waste into the main river. Carlos is sick and unable to help me.”
Ryder was startled by all four of these calls. Without hesitating, he pulled out his data-pad and called the other six pups. They had just finished a late evening game of ball when their tags began to flash.
“Ryder needs us.”, they all said together.
Ryder proceeded to activate the flashing red light atop the Lookout to indicate the emergency was serious. When the pups saw this, they began to run faster.
“That can only mean trouble.”, Marshall said worriedly.
They rushed onto the elevator and got in line to get in uniform. Once they had reached the top, they stepped off and sat down in front of the screen.
“PAW Patrol ready for action, Ryder Sir.”, said Chase.
“Thanks for hurrying, pups. This is possibly going to be the hardest mission we’ve ever had. Four calls have come in from Liberty, Tracker, Rex, and Everest at the SAME TIME.”, Ryder said in a state of worry.
“WHAT? FOUR CALLS AT ONCE?”, shrieked the pups together.
“First of all, Liberty called in a fire at the hotel where Humdinger is serving his arrest sentence as a steward. He alerted her HIMSELF about what happened. Multiple power-strips on the third floor got overloaded and sparked before the power was cut. Also, the doors have collapsed and trapped guests inside. Marshall, I need you to get inside there and rescue the guests. Show Liberty how to operate your water cannons so she can shoot at the flames. Skye, I need you to tag along and provide aerial support to get water on the roof. Rubble, you must use your tools to prop the door frame up so Marshall can get inside.”
“I’m fired up.”, replied Marshall.
“Rubble on the double.”, replied Rubble.
“Let’s take to the sky.”, replied Skye.
As they set off getting ready, Ryder explained the remaining calls.
“Next up, Rex called in a volcanic eruption in his area. The lava is headed towards several dinosaur nests and the dinosaurs are panicking. Zuma, I need you to take your hovercraft and use explosives to divert a river so it stops the lava. Rex will work on calming down the dinosaurs.”
“Ready, set, get wet!”, Zuma crowed.
“The third call is from Tracker. He has spotted polluters in his area and they are dumping toxic waste into the river. Carlos would help him, but he’s sick right now. Rocky, I need you to help him stop the dumping and then clean up the spill.”
“Green means go.”, said Rocky.
“Chase, you and I have the last call. Everest informed me of two skiers trapped at the top of the slopes in the mountains. We need to help her get them out. Jake can’t help her because he broke his leg yesterday while snowboarding. You will ride with me since your cruiser isn’t yet modified for snowy environments.”
Chase understood and he followed Ryder down the pole to Ryder’s ATV. As they left, Ryder contacted Mayor Goodway about what was happening and to send for help if they were in trouble. He gave her a data-pad that showed the progress of each group’s mission. This was equipped with a CALL button in case all four groups were downed. After Mayor Goodway acknowledged what Ryder had told her, Ryder and the pups set off on their missions.
**
In Adventure City, firefighters in the area were battling the flames to keep them from jumping to other buildings when the pups arrived at the scene. Marshall deployed the out-riggers on his fire truck for stability before raising the ladder. After telling Liberty how to use the water cannons and hose, he gave some heat-resistant clothes to Humdinger.
“Rubble will need you to hold up the door frame until he positions the braces properly.”, he explained as Humdinger put on the suit.
“I can’t argue with that, Marshall. I wouldn’t be a proper hotel steward if I wasn’t helping the guests.”, Humdinger replied as he put the gloves on.
Marshall attached a water tank to Skye’s helicopter and she flew above to smother the flames on the roof. Once Rubble had secured the braces to the doors, which was hard work, he began making his way back to his rig to move it. Unfortunately, he had inhaled smoke while securing the braces and he blacked out. He had also parked too close to the heat and his rig’s engine was getting too hot. In an act of kindness, Humdinger grabbed Rubble, placed him in the driver’s seat on his rig and then pushed his rig away before it reached the point of exploding. Then, he flagged down Marshall as he rushed a guest out of the hotel. When Marshall ran over, Humdinger told him that the wind was about to pick up.
“Marshall, this is Skye. I need to refill my water tank.”
“Copy that, Skye. Be careful, because Humdinger has just told me that the wind is picking up.”, he replied to her.
Skye acknowledged and flew for the waterfront. She was able to refill, but her return was jeopardized. As she flew back, she hit turbulence and ended up flying into a jet-stream. Her engine began to stall, but she got it going again. However, she was not fast enough to get the engine running. She was still spinning and was about to crash. To avoid hurting herself, she ejected. What she didn’t know was that the spinning had caused her helmet to fall off. She hit her head, which knocked her unconscious, and scraped her front paws on the ground. Her helicopter knocked over Liberty’s motorcycle before slamming into a streetlight post.
Marshall had just freed the last guest in the hotel when he had to make a run for the doors. He was out of oxygen and had to hold his breath. He ended up tripping over a broom handle and fell on his stomach. A ceiling tile fell on his head and knocked him out before he could stand up again.
Outside, Liberty was doing her best to keep the fire contained when a balcony railing broke loose. She scrambled down the ladder to get away, but the railing hit the ladder and sent her flying across the road. She hit her head against the outside of another building and then fell to the ground, breaking all of her legs and passing out.
**
In the dinosaur jungle, Zuma got right to work placing the explosives. He set one at the base of a tree and then formed a line that ran to a point in front of the lava flow. Once the explosives were detonated, the water began to flow perpendicular to the lava. Suddenly, Zuma heard a cry for help.
“ZUMA!”
It was Rex. Zuma turned on his sonar and rushed towards Rex’s signal. He soon found him hanging onto a vine for dear life at the river’s edge.
“Rex, what happened?”, Zuma asked.
“A mama triceratops accidentally kicked me into the river. She was in too much panic. I struck an exposed tree root first and my wheelchair broke loose. Then I fell into the water. My wheelchair got washed away and I grabbed the vine.”, Rex explained nervously.
Zuma deployed his life-belt and pulled Rex out of the water. He then started heading for where the dinosaurs had been led, but they were too close to the lava flow for too long. They reached a safe location, but soon passed out from heat exhaustion.
**
In the rainforest, Rocky’s sensors picked up high levels of hazardous chemicals. Putting on a gas mask, he ventured deeper until he found Tracker holding his breath near the ancient ruins.
“Tracker, put this on.”, he said as he tossed him another gas mask.
Tracker put the mask on and started breathing normally. After climbing into the spare seat in Rocky’s garbage truck, he directed Rocky towards the dumpers.
“STOP! YOU’RE GOING TO KILL THE PLANTS AND ANIMALS HERE!”, they yelled.
Instead of stopping, the dumpers pulled out tranquilizers and started shooting at them. Rocky turned around to get away, but the darts pierced his tires and hit him and Tracker in the back. They crashed into a tree after Rocky passed out and lost control.
**
In the mountains, Ryder turned his ATV into a snowmobile and he and Chase sped through the snowstorm until they met Everest at Jake’s snowboarding resort. After letting them inside for a cup of cocoa, Jake explained that they would only be able to get 80% of the way to the trapped skiers in their vehicles.
“Wait, why’s that?”, asked Chase.
“Recently, Jake and I have spotted large cracks opening up in the mountain face. In mountaineering terms, these giant cracks are referred to as crevasses. They are often covered over by snow and hard to notice. The snow over them will not hold the weight of our vehicles. Since the skiers are 400 feet up the mountain, we can only ascend 320 feet on wheels.”
Not wanting to take chances, Ryder agreed and they headed back out to go up the mountain and free the skiers. Before leaving, he told Jake to watch for a signal flare. This would mean he and the pups were in trouble. After going up 320 feet, they draped snow shields over their vehicles and then Ryder tied 2 ropes to his climbing harness. One rope was tied to Chase and the other was tied to Everest. He also had 2 ice picks to probe the ground for cracks. They reached the summit after 45 minutes of traipsing through the snowstorm. At the top, they spotted the skiers, who were up to their knees in snow. While Ryder and Chase dug them out with snow shovels, Everest examined the lift mechanism to see what caused it to stop.
“Ryder, I found the cause of the malfunction. A fuse has blown. There are replacements in the toolbox inside.”, she called over the wind.
After putting away the snow shovels, Ryder ran inside to grab a replacement fuse while Chase and Everest led the skiers to the lift seats. After Ryder had replaced the fuse, he radioed Jake to restart the lifts. In a flash, the lifts began moving again and the skiers were taken back down to safety. Ryder and the two pups started back down the mountain to get back to their snowmobiles. He made sure to stop every few feet to check for cracks. He easily found two crevasses and led the pups around them, and then they continued on. After 20 more feet, Ryder probed a spot and it felt solid, but it suddenly collapsed under his feet when he stepped onto it. He fell feet first into the snow and realized that his body weight had opened up a crevasse. This one was covered by six inches of snow and one inch of ice. He began trying to stab his ice picks into the snow to catch himself, but it was no use. He soon reached the edge and he couldn’t stab anymore.
“FALLING!”, he screamed to Chase and Everest.
“RYDER, NO!”, they shrieked upon hearing him.
Before the ropes went taut, or tight, they started trying to dig into the snow in hopes of catching him. However, once the ropes went taut, their paws slipped through the powder until they got to the edge and slipped under the snow. Ryder felt the ropes go taut, and then he felt them go slack after a minute. Realizing this meant neither Chase nor Everest was able to catch him, his eyes welled up with tears. They flailed around in hopes of catching a point on the crevasse wall, but Ryder dropped his ice picks and Chase struck the wall so hard that he broke his back right paw. After falling 60 feet, they landed softly on a snow-covered ice bridge. More snow fell into the crevasse and covered their legs, trapping them. An hour later, both Chase and Everest had passed out from hypothermia, and Ryder was starting to black out as well.
**
Before Ryder had completely passed out from his hypothermia, he shot the flare to alert Jake that he, Chase, and Everest were in trouble. Jake saw the flare and radioed Mayor Goodway to tell her that Ryder, Chase, and Everest were in trouble. Without hesitating, Goodway looked at the data-pad that Ryder gave her and saw that the other pups were in trouble too. Knowing they were all in trouble, she sent out a call for help.