Paw Patrol The Final Countdown

Long hike up.

Rubble wheezed as he struggled to climb a rather steep and rocky hill. He along with Hector, Ryder and Chase were heading up a path that overlooked the city, Wellsfair. 

"How are you holding up back there, Rubble?" Chase asked. He too was panting hard. 

"I'm dying," he answered laying down. Ryder picked the pup up.

 "I have got to stop eating pup treats," Rubble said.

 "Over here, " Hector yelled. 

They crawled over the top of the hill. Peeking over, they saw what they had hiked up the hill for. The city was not very big, a few hundred people perhaps. It also looked dirty and polluted.

 "Eww, who'd want to live there?" Chase asked.  

"I don't think they have much of a choice." Ryder replied grimly. Hector nodded in agreement. 

"Since Humdinger won't let anyone leave, they're practically forced to stay and pay high taxes. All just to support the quote unquote greatest ruler of all time." Hector explained. 

They all laughed at the boy's imitation of Humdinger. But Ryder quickly grew sober again.

"Those poor people. They need help, and we're just the team to help them. Paw patrol to The Lookout!" He exclaimed punching his arm into the air. Rubble and a Chase exchanged a look. 

"Umm, Ryder? How are we going to get to The Lookout?

"Oh wait, your right." Ryder said stroking his chin. He suddenly snapped his fingers.

"I've got it!"

Chase, Rubble, and Hector all looked up at him expectantly.

"Well, are you going to tell us or are we going to be waiting up here all day?" Rubble asked.

Ryder grinned at them. "Paw Patrol to the cave!" 

"Cave?! What cave?!" Chase asked looking bewildered.

"That cave," Ryder said pointing past them toward a massive looking cavern.

"Oh." Rubble said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He then hesitated. "I hope it doesn't have snakes in it." His voice quavered just mentioning it.

Hector laughed. "There can't be snakes in it."

Chase looked up at him questioningly.

 "How do you know that?"

Hector hesitated and swallowed. "I um well sorta maybe have already been in that cave."

"Ooooooo, what have you been doing in there? Breaking the law? "Rubble asked mischievously.

Hector stared at him for a few minutes before they all burst into fits of laughter. Humdinger had so many laws it was impossible not to break them, and most of them were bizarre and weird anyway. Like how no one but him can wear top hats. 

"Good one Rubble." Ryder said between laughs. 

Hector grinned widely, knowing that his secret was safe for the time being. That is, until he heard Ryder's next words.

"Ok guys enough fooling around. Let's go check out that cave." 

"Noo!" Hector yelped suddenly jumping in front of the group. 

"No?" Chase questioned. Hector looked around nervously.

"No- no b-because there's uh, there's-" 

"There's what?" Ryder asked. He could tell Hector was hiding something. But what? 

"There's no... no light!" Hector said dramatically. "Darn no light for us to see, what a pity." 

"That's no problem! We can use the lights from our vehicles," Rubble said. Chase nodded. 

"And Rocky has a light in his pup pack," Ryder explained. Hector glanced at the three before sighing dejectedly. 

"Alright, but for your safety we can't go all the way back. We don't know what's back there," Hector said. He walked in front of them and began to descend down the hill. Ryder glanced at the boy. Something was off. Ryder realized he had fallen behind and quickly caught up with the small group. Chase was in the back of the line. Ryder lightly pulled on his tail, and as Chase turned around to protest, Ryder put a finger to his lips. Chase gave him questioning look, but remained silent. Ryder gave him a look and the pup walked over. The boy bent over and began to fiddle with his shoe. Noticing that the two were missing, Rubble looked back up the hill.

"Hey! What are you guy's doing up there?" the bulldog asked. He and Hector were almost at the bottom of the hill. 

"There is a rock in my shoe! Chase is keeping me leveraged, so I won't fall down!" Ryder called. Rubble nodded, "Ok, we'll meet you back at Hector's house." 

Ryder turned to Chase, now that the coast was clear.

"Did you notice how Hector acted about that cave?" Ryder asked in a low voice, he didn't want Rubble to hear them. 

"Now that you mention it ... yeah. It's almost like he doesn't want us in there. But why? You think he's hiding something?" Chase asked. He was puzzled as to why their new friend would be doing something like that. Ryder stood up. 

"I don't know Chase. But we'll find out. Who knows? He might tell us himself," he said with a small smile. 

"Should we tell the rest of the pups?" Chase asked the boy. Ryder shook his head. 

"No. We don't want to risk any of them saying anything. We'll tell them if things get too suspicious." 

They made it down the hill with no interruptions and went back to Hectors' house. Immediately, after explaining about everything, the pups got in their vehicles, and Hector joined Ryder on his ATV.  A few minutes later, and a long drive up the mountain, they stopped at the entrance of the cave. 

"Creepy," Skye said. Rubble whimpered a bit.

"I hope there aren't a lot of spiders in here," the bulldog gulped.

"Rubble you're with us, you'll be fine," Zuma promised reassuringly. 

"Besides, I've got spider repellent," Rocky told the terrified pup. 

"Really?" he asked in disbelief.

"Sure..." the gray pup replied ignoring Marshall's face. The dalmatian shook his head. 

"You'll be just fine. A tiny spider never killed any- never mind. You'll be alright," Marshall reassured his friend.      

"Turn on your lights pups," Ryder said. 

Fourteen light beams shone into the mouth of the cave. And nothing could have prepared them for what they saw next.

We are so sorry for such a late update, and short chapter. But we hope you enjoyed this chapter! We will try to get the next chapter out sooner!  🐾PawPatrolduo