Tongue Tied (Valentine's Day Special)

Chapter 2: Something's Up

The ride in the elevator to the top of The Lookout was quick and (surprisingly) graceful. All the pups arrived in the elevator fast without tripping over one another. Even Marshall - who usually tumbles over something or himself nearly every time - strutted in without incident. Putting on their uniforms once they reached the halfway point, the elevator completed it's course and reached the top floor with a ding. As the doors opened, the pups jumped and lined up in front of Ryder; each one geared up and ready for duty. 

"Ready for action, Ryder sir." commanded Chase, sitting in the near middle of the line of pups wearing his police uniform. 

"Thanks for getting here quick, pups." acknowledged Ryder, he himself wearing his jacket uniform. In his hand was a special piece of technology he invented called a Pup Pad - a smartphone-type device he used to receive calls, contact the pups through their Pup Tags, and control various devices around The Lookout. "We've got ourselves a bit of a jam up on Jake's Mountain."

Ryder pushed a button on his Pup Pad and a screen popped down in front of the window beside him. On the screen was an animation of a cabin on the mountain and the surrounding area, showing what the emergency was.

"Last night some icy winds and snow hit the mountain hard and did some damage on the chair lift." began Ryder, zooming in on the screen and pointing towards a small building by a hill. "The high winds blew the roof off the building that controls the lift, causing the snow and ice to freeze the motor that operates the cables. This has made the whole chairlift inoperable, and now Jake can't open the resort for skiers and snowboarders."

The pups gasped and shivered at the thought of how cold the snowstorm must have been.

"Oh my! Are Jake and Everest okay?" Skye quickly asked with great concern, whimpering for her best friend and the pup's owner.

Ryder gave her comforting smile. "Luckily, yes. Jake was the one who called me. Both he and Everest are all dandy since their cabin is well built." Skye let out a sigh of relief, feeling a small weight lifted off her shoulder. Ryder than turned to all the pups and continued. "The damage is too severe for both of them to fix on their own, so now it's up to us to repair the damage and get the resort up and running again!"

The boy than swiped the screen on his Pup Pad, causing the larger screen beside him to project Each pup's tag insignia. "Rubble," he started as a wrench symbol appeared on screen, "I need you and your scoop rig to clear the snow from around the motor housing building so we can get in. I'll also need you to bring your jackhammer attachment for your Pup Pack to break through any ice that may have built up."

"Oh yeah! Let's dig it!" said Rubble cheerfully, anticipating the mission ahead.

"Rocky," said Ryder as he swiped the Pup Pad again; this time a recycling symbol popping up on the screen. "I'll need you and your inventive skills to fix the motor to the chairlift. We can use recycled materials from your truck to replace any pieces missing."

"You can count on me." acknowledged Rocky. "Green means go!"

Ryder moved along the line as both a red cross and propeller symbol appeared on screen. "Marshall and Skye. I need you both to retrieve and repair the roof. Find the pieces that blew away and bring them back. Once it's ready, Skye can use her helicopter to raise the roof to the top and Marshall can climb the ladder of his firetruck to line it up and screw it into place."

The Dalmatian woofed in excitement as the Cockappo did a little flip.

"I'm fired up!" declared Marshall with confidence.

"This pup's gotta fly!" said Skye with a cheerful bark.

Finally, Ryder swiped the Pad for the final pups as the screen showed a police badge and anchor symbols. "Chase and Zuma. I need you both to use cones and caution tape to set up a perimeter around the Chairlift. Once that's done I'll need you both to help the other pups with repairs. We'll need all paws on deck to fix this mess."