Chapter 5. Mission To Find Ryder

"Ryder is nowhere to be found" Katie said. "We've searched everywhere" said Carlos. "This is getting serious" said Chase. Earlier, Chase had tried to call Ryder but he discovered that Ryder's pup-pad was on his bed. "PAW Patrol to the Lookout!" Chase contacted the other pups through his pup-tag. "Ryder needs us." Rubble, Zuma and Skye who were searching the backyard ran for the Lookout. Tracker and Rocky rushed from the basement of the Lookout. Marshall and Everest were in the garage when their pup-tags glowed. Everybody was in the elevator, including Katie, Carlos and Jake. Marshall was the last to get in, as usual. As he ran toward the elevator, Marshall tripped over a tennis ball and went flying straight toward elevator. "Watch out!" the pups warned with wide eyes. Katie, Carlos and Jake moved aside before the incoming pup made his crash land.

Marshall crashed into the pups, creating a pile of tangled pups. "Marshall!" they all said. "Sorry" Marshall said. "Hey, we're like a giant knot of tangled ropes." Marshall's joke earned the laughter of all the pups and the humans. The elevator doors closed and up it went to the mission room where Chase awaited. The elevator halted, the doors opened, and the pups leaped while the humans walked out. Katie, Carlos and Jake stood aside, allowing the pups to do their job. "PAW Patrol ready for action, Chase sir!" Marshall barked sternly, who felt kinda awkward saying the German Shepherd's catchphrase.

"Thanks hurrying over pups" Chase pressed a button which brought down the big screen. "We all know what has happened. Yesterday night, Ryder was mysteriously attacked by something. That 'something' has afflicted Ryder with a terrible illness. He got very cold yesterday, he was saying things that didn't make sense, he was even seeing the fake VampireWolf, he forgot what a glass cup was, he then started getting really hot, he then vomited and his vomit contained a little blood."

"Poor Ryder" Katie mumbled. "For this mission, we are not only searching for Ryder. We have to find what attacked him because whatever attacked him could still be lurking around and it could attack another person and then another. So for this mission, I will need Skye."

"Your going to use your copter to search for Ryder from up high. You will be looking around Jake's Mountain and the evergreen forest that is nearby." "This pups gotta fly!" Skye squeaked. "Everest, your gonna search the caves on Jake's Mountain and the deeper parts of the nearby evergreen forest with Jake.""What if the VampireWolf is in one of the caves?" Everest pinned back her ears. "The VampireWolf isn't real. Everyone knows that's just a fake tale" Chase sternly said. "Okay...ice or snow, I'm ready to go" Everest tone didn't have much spirit in it."Rubble....Chase was interrupted when a call appeared on the big screen.

"Mayor Goodway?" Jake said in a questioning tone. Chase answered the call by pressing a button. "Hi Mayor Goodway" Chase greeted. "Oh uh, hi Chase. Where's Ryder?" Mayor Goodway asked. "We don't know where Ryder is either. I'm assigning the team their tasks right now because we're on a mission to find him" Chase explained. "You don't know where Ryder is? That's terrible! How could he disappear?" Mayor Goodway asked in a panicking tone. "It's a long story, mayor. Can we help you?" Chase asked. "Yes yes! A terrible thing just happened! Chickaletta is MISSING!" Mayor Goodway screamed. Chase sighed irritably, trying to hold in his irritation."Don't worry, mayor. We'll come soon" said Chase. "Please hurry. Chickaletta is probably so scared and hungry."

After the call, Chase turned to the pups. "Anyways, where was I?" Chase asked. "You assigned me and then you were about to call up Rubble" Everest reminded. "Oh yeah. Rubble, your gonna search Farmer Al and Farmer Yumi's farm for Ryder." "Rubble on the double!" the bulldog barked. "Zuma, your gonna search the bay." "Let's dive in!" Zuma said. "Tracker and Carlos will search the entire jungle, including the monkey temple" Chase said. "That's a bit extreme, dude" Jake commented. "I know that but Ryder is out of his mind right now. He could be anywhere and in grave danger. We need to search everywhere for him" Chase explained.

"I agree with Chase. I'll search anywhere for my friend" Carlos said. "Me too!" Tracker barked. "Rocky, you will search around town along with Katie." "Green means go!" Rocky barked. "I really want to search for Ryder but my spy gear are gonna be needed to find whatever attacked Ryder. So I'm gonna be the one finding the mysterious creature" Chase said. "Alright, PAW Patrol is on a roll!" Rocky started running for the slide. He leaped onto it and down he went to the bottom. The spinning mechanism which held the pups' pup-houses spun, placing Rocky's pup-house at the end of the slide. Rocky leaped off as he reached the end of the slide, then fell into his transforming pup-house. Once it turned into his recycling truck, Katie came down with Cali. She got in with Rocky and off they drove. The other pups did the same, soon everyone was departing to start the big search for Ryder. Chase drove his spy truck to the backyard and then parked it near the area where Ryder had been attacked. "Once I find whoever or whatever attacked Ryder, I'm gonna show them a lesson. They'll think twice before attacking Ryder the next time" Chase growled.

•~•~•~•~•

Far away in the evergreen forest that Skye was heading to, Ryder was still near the stream. He had been crying for hours and had by now run out of tears to spill. Ryder stood up, shaking his beautiful silver pelt. He walked over to the stream to lap up the much needed fluid that his body had been demanding for. "This is gonna be strange drinking like an animal" Ryder said. He bent over and stuck out his tongue. "I need a cup" he said, sitting up. "But I don't have a cup. I'm not a human anymore. Ryder, you need to learn how to be an animal now." Though Ryder tried telling himself that, he just couldn't imagine himself drinking like an animal. "But I have to. If I don't try, I'll die from thirst. I need to get use to this for when it's time to eat like an animal...even though I don't want that time to come yet."

Ryder bent down again and stuck out his new wolf-dog tongue to lap up some water. But before he could even take a drip of water, his new triangular keen ears picked up the sound of a copter. "A copter?" Ryder gasped. "Oh no, that's Skye. That's exactly how her copter sounds. My pups are out looking for me." Ryder looked to the sky, that was mostly blocked out by pine trees. "My pups, they're looking for me. But I can't let them find me. My pups." Ryder looked to the grass as tears started brimming in his eyes. When the copter rumbles got louder, Ryder knew he had to keep running. "I have to keep running. I'm running away from my own pups. How could I do that?" Ryder asked himself. "But I have to do that." Without being able to quench his thirst, Ryder leaped over the stream and started speeding up.

•~•~•~•~•

Meanwhile in the sky, Skye was hovering above the evergreen forest. "No sign of Ryder anywhere" Skye was zooming in with her goggles. "But I do see one very beautiful silver wolf. I've actually never seen a wolf so beautiful looking." Skye had no idea that that was Ryder. From up high, he looked like a wild wolf. Skye just ignored the silver wolf-dog and continued searching.

•~•~•~•~•

On Jake's Mountain, Everest was driving her snowplow through the snow and ice. "Are you scared, Jake?" Everest asked her owner who was riding behind on the snowplow. "Just a little. But I just keep telling myself that the VampireWolf is fake, because it is" Jake said. The snowplow pulled over infront of the entrance of a large cave. "Jake, I'll wait for you outside" Everest shivered at the sight of the dark cave. "Oh no no no! I'm not going in there by myself" said Jake. "Ugh! Fine! Let's go!" Everest huffed, leaping out of her snowplow. The duo started walking slowly and fearfully toward the cave's entrance. In the deepest depth of the cave, they had no idea that the phantom beast was lurking inside.

•~•~•~•~•

Carlos and Tracker were driving through the jungle in Tracker's jeep. "I'm very worried about Ryder. What if we don't ever find him. I don't want to lose my best friend. What if something killed him by now? I would get so lonely without him coming to visit us in the jungle here and there" Carlos was clearly worried about his friend and Tracker didn't want to see his owner like this. "Don't worry amigo. We will find Ryder, I'm sure he is fine" was all Tracker could say. He was worried himself about Ryder and was doubting things the same way Carlos was.

•~•~•~•~•

Chase was putting his strong nose to work near the area where Ryder had been attacked. He nose sniffed the grass, he found the dry spot of blood that had oozed out of Ryder's wound when he was attacked. Then a scent drifted into Chase's nose. Chase continued sniffing the spot harder but he couldn't figure out what this strange scent belonged to. It smelled like....Chase had no idea what it smelled like. "That's strange. I can't even recognize this scent" Chase said.I saw the VampireWolf! He attacked me! Ryder's words rang through Chase's mind. "Could it be that he was in his right mind and he was telling the truth?" Chase said. Chase shook his head. "That can't be true! The VampireWolf is just a made-up fantasy creature that doesn't exist! Why would I even believe that it is true?"

•~•~•~•~•

"Mr. Porter, have you seen Ryder?" Rocky asked. "Why do you ask that?" Mr. Porter questioned. "We haven't seen him since we woke up. His pup-pad was left on his bed and he's nowhere to be found. There's no hint of him anywhere" Katie explained. "That's weird, but I haven't seen him. If I do, I'll tell you guys right away" Mr. Porter said. Rocky then drove to Captain Turbot who was as usual fishing on his flounder. "Hey Captain Turbot, have you seen Ryder?" Rocky asked. "No I haven't. Is he missing?" the captain asked. "Yes" Katie answered in a worried tone. "Maybe he went for a walk on Big View Trail" Captain Turbot suggested. "We'll check there" Rocky said, then drove off.

•~•~•~•~•

"Farmer Yumi! Have you seen Ryder? We haven't seen him since this morning" Rubble asked Farmer Yumi who was milking Bettina. "No, he sure didn't come here" Farmer Yumi replied. Rubble then drove off. "Ryder, where are you? We're looking for you" Rubble said.

•~•~•~•~•

Ryder was now running in the desert. He knew he was far far away from Adventure Bay. Perhaps not even in Adventure Bay anymore. Even though he was far, Ryder continued running so he could get farther away from his pups. Every time he thought that he was running from his pups, he would shed tears and he felt as if his heart was just torn apart. "I would never run away from my own pups, but this time I have to."

Word count: 1,948Date of publication: February 2, 2022