Race Against Time - A Paw Patrol Story

Chapter Twelve

Meanwhile, with the rest of the Paw Patrol, they were just getting to Barkingburg. Everest fell asleep on Marshall's shoulder who was also asleep. All the others except for Ryder, who just woke up, and Skye were asleep.

Ryder was looking out the window for possible clues. Skye was too worried to sleep. She was still thinking about Chase. She worried that something really bad happened to him. She hoped he was someplace hopeful.

Skye was still lost in her thoughts when Ryder brought her right out. Ryder knew how much Skye wanted Chase to be safe. Everybody wanted Chase safe. But he knew Skye felt as if she needed to rescue him just as he rescued her. "Don't worry, Skye," said Ryder, "we'll find him."

"Yeah, but still," said Skye with a sigh, "If the thing we are up against is strong enough to take down Chase, the strongest pup in the Paw Patrol who would never back down, how sure are we that we stand a chance?"

The moment Ryder sat next to Skye and put her on his lap, she started to sob. Ryder just stayed there letting her cry.

Little did they know both Everest and Marshall were both listening but they had their eyes closed. They didn't want to interrupt this moment. Besides, they didn't want the other one to find out they were awake.

Ryder pet Skye's head. "Don't worry," he said in a soothing and gentle voice. "You said it yourself, Skye. Chase is a strong pup. Nothing will happen to him. He knows we depend on him as much as he would on us. We work together no matter how far away."

Skye wiped a tear off her cheek. "Yeah, I guess so," she replied, "Thanks, Ryder."

Ryder smiled. "No problem." He went to go sit back in his seat. 30 minutes passed by when an alarm went off.

Marshall looked up quickly. He realized what he did and looked over at Everest, but to his relief, she was still sleeping peacefully on his shoulder. He sighed in relief and looked up at Ryder. "Ryder, what's going on?" he asked in a voice a bit louder than a whisper.

Ryder didn't know why Marshall talked quietly so he turned and noticed that most of the pups were asleep including Everest who was still sleeping on Marshall's shoulder. Ryder didn't think much of this but he still talked quietly to not wake them up. "Well, the radar is picking up two objects coming towards us from opposite directions," Ryder responded in the same voice lever. "From the looks of it, these objects are two jets. I think it would be best to land as soon as possible."

"I agree," said Skye.

"Yeah, me too," exclaimed Marshall.

"Okay, Robo Dog, put us down," Ryder commanded and Robo Dog obeyed.

Robo Dog parked the plane in the parking lot of an abandoned supermarket. Ryder, Marshall, Everest, who just woke up, and Skye got out. The two planes that were behind them parked only a couple hundred feet away.

"What do you think, Ryder?" asked Everest.

"I don't know, Everest," responded Ryder. "Let's go find out."

Before they could walk twenty feet, two men in black suits ran out one from each jet and started shooting at them. The bullet landed a few inches of Marshall. He took a closer look at it.

"Guys," he said, "These are stun darts, RUN!!"

Everybody started to run towards the plane when Everest tripped. Marshall turned back to see the men pointing at Everest. Everest noticed this as well so she closed her eyes because she thought it would hurt. Marshall couldn't let anything happen to her. He ran back and put himself in front of her and pushed her on her feet. She started running thinking that Marshall was right next to her. When she was at the doorstep of the plane, she turned back realizing that Marshall was still where she tripped. When he pushed her up, he got hit by the dart. The men were still shooting at the others. 

"Oh, no. Marshall!" yelled Everest. Marshall tried to get up but he fell back down. Everest tried to go back to him but Ryder picked her up and ran to the Air Patroller. "Ryder, we have to help Marshall."

"We won't be any help if we get caught as well," Ryder said.

"Yeah," said Skye. "And besides, "Marshall is a tough pup. He and Chase can both figure something out."

Everest calmed down a bit but she was still pretty worried. All three of them were thinking the same thing. Hopefully, they can find each other and together find their way back to us.

The men were now walking toward the entrance of the Air Patroller. Ryder told Robo Dog to close the door and take off. From the window, Everest and Skye saw the men pick up the dalmation and put him inside one of the jets.

"It's all my fault," Everest muttered.

Skye looked at her. "What?"

"If I hadn't tripped, Marshall would've still been here."

"Hey, don't put all of that pressure on yourself. It was an accident. You didn't mean to."

"Yeah, you're right. FYI, half the time, I... uh... wasn't asleep."

"Then why did you pretend to be?"

"Well, one, because I didn't want to ruin the moment you and Ryder had, and two, because I didn't want to ruin the tiny moment I and Marshall had," Everest said blushing.

Skye chuckled at this.

"Yeah," said Everest. "Now I know how you feel."

"What do you mean?" asked Skye

"Well, you lost Chase and I lost Marshall. We both want to be with them."

"Oh, right... " (Skye sighs) "... that."

Ryder wasn't paying attention to what they were talking about. He was too focused on trying to find Marshall and possibly Chase. But there was one catch though. When the men put Marshall on the plane, the plane interfered with the signal so Ryder couldn't track him.

Ten minutes had passed since the incident. Everest and Skye were both in a sad mood. They both lost the pups they loved. They wanted to be with Chase and Marshall. They wanted to go back to that park where they were a few days ago. After a while, the rest of the pups started to wake up one by one. First was Rubble and then Rocky and Zuma. Once they fully woke up, they looked around and noticed Marshall was missing.

"Good morning, where's Marshall?" asked Rubble.

This made Everest even more upset. Skye took notice of this and tried to comfort her best friend. "We will find him," said Skye. "Both of them."

The other pups were still confused. Skye looked up at them.

"Marshall was taken by two men. We believe they might be connected to what brought Chase here."

"Wait," said Rubble. "First, Chase and then Marshall? How could this happen?" Rubble was really upset. Rubble always looked up to both of them. To him, ever since he joined the Paw Patrol, he saw them as his idols. He wanted to be just like them. For him to know that his two role models were in trouble, was upsetting. But deep inside, he knew that they could get through this. He knew Chase and Marshall would've wanted him to do the same.

"Well, we're doing everything in our power to get them both back," exclaimed Ryder.

I hope so, thought Skye and Everest.

Ryder turned on camouflage mode and told Robo-Dog to look for another place to land. Ryder turned around to look at the pups. "Pups, this mission may be harder than we thought," he told them. "But for their sake and ours, we are going to be careful but also quick. This is a race against time."