Each of the pups looked at him.
Chase-Your dad?
Ryder-Yeah, you see my dad’s a pretty well respected archaeologist and always used to tell me stories of his finds when I was little.
Rocky-Wow, that’s so cool!
Skye-Yeah, why didn’t you ever tell us about him?
Ryder-You never asked, but he is a pretty cool guy and he even taught me everything he knew about inventing and fixing up different types of machinery. In fact, he helped me build each of our equipment. However, some of his inventions didn’t always work, and occasionally well…blew up.
Chase-Blew up!?!?
Ryder scratched his head nervously.
Ryder-Yeah, in fact I’ve actually lost count of how many times he blew up the house. However, he’s still a good person and always has his heart in the right place.
Zuma-Sounds like quite the guy.
Ryder-He is, he might have his faults, but at the end of the day he’s still my dad. Anyway, back to the topic on hand, or paw as the case may be. If anyone can figure out, it’s him.
Zuma-Right, but how will we get there? I mean, you can’t use your ATV.
Ryder-Oh yeah, I didn’t think of that…
Chase-Don’t worry about it, I’ll drive you in my truck.
Ryder-Thanks.
Skye-Well, what are we doing just talking about it. Let’s go, I’m really excited about meeting him.
Chase-Yeah, me too I wonder what he’ll be like.
With that each of the pups raced out of the room but noticed that Ryder seemed to be having trouble getting his balance and tripped as he took a step.
Ryder-Um, pups?
Zuma-Hang on dude!
With that Zuma and Chase each went to Ryder’s side and helped him to his feet and showed him how to walk on four legs, and after some trial and error, he got the hang of it.
Ryder-Thanks…and thanks for not laughing at me, that wasn’t one of my finest moments.
Zuma-No prob!
Chase-Yeah, you always help us out and never laugh at us. We’re just returning the favor.
With that each of them made it to the control room and each of them went down the slide. Chase and Ryder went first followed by; Zuma, Rocky, Marshall, Rubble, and finally Skye. Once down the slide Chase landed in his house which turned into his vehicle, Ryder then landed in the back, then the rest of them followed suite, once each of their houses were turned into their respected vehicles they each got on the road.
Chase-Okay Ryder, where are we going?
Ryder-My house is on the up side of town.
Chase-Got it!
With that the gang headed down the road until they came up to a pretty good sized house, it was painted blue and seemed to be an Italian Eight style.
Ryder-Okay, stop here!
Everyone stopped and looked at it.
Rocky-Is this it?
Ryder-Yep, this is my house.
Everyone got out and stood in front of the walkway.
Marshall-It sure is cool!
Skye-Yeah, the blue’s a nice color.
Chase turned to Ryder
Chase-You ready?
Ryder-Y-yeah, I’m just a bit nervous about how he’s going to take it.
Zuma-Don’t worry dude, we’ll be right there beside you!
Ryder-Thanks Zuma, that makes me feel a bit better.
With that they started walking towards the house, but then there was a loud explosion and something went flying through the roof!
Rocky-What the heck!?
Chase-Look out that thing is headed straight for us!
With that each of them scattered, and the object finally landed with at loud thud, and a bunch of water started gushing out the side.
Each of them walked towards it.
Chase-W-what the, is that a water heater!?
Ryder facepawed.
Ryder-Ugh, not again…Come on!
With that each of them ran to the door, and Rocky used his tool arm to open the door. Once inside they followed Ryder to the basement.
Ryder-Dad! Are you okay!?
Just then the gang heard a moan from behind a table that was knocked over.
???-Ugh, Ryder is that you?
With that he got to his feet and looked where the voice came from.
???-Yeah, I’m alright…but man, what a bang!
Just then he noticed he couldn’t find Ryder, just a bunch of dogs. He then recognized them as Ryder’s friends.
???-Hey, your Ryder’s team of pups! That’s weird, I know I heard Ryder’s voice, but I can’t seem to find him.
Ryder-Uh…you did.
Just then he looked down and noticed a seventh pup, and he seemed to have a voice that was a little too familiar.
???-Heh, that’s strange, that pup’s voice sounds a lot like…wait…no, it can’t be.
Ryder-H-hi dad.
???-AHH, R-ryder is that you!? Oh my god, how in the name of all things good in this world did this happen!?
Chase then stepped in front and said.
Chase-That’s precisely why we’re here, Ryder said that you would be able to figure it out!
Ryder-Yeah, you see…
With that Ryder explained what happened and about the strange stone.
???-Hmm, alright let me see if I got this straight. First, during a rescue mission your friend Jake found this strange purple stone.
Ryder-Right.
???-And after you made sure it was safe you got it out of the ground and brought it over to the Lookout.
Ryder-Yeah, I was actually planning on giving it to you to study and uncover its secrets.
???-However, the next morning you woke up like this. Is that your story in its full entirety?
Ryder-Yeah…that’s all of it.
???-Hmm, you said that stone had a strange symbol on it, right.
Ryder-Yeah, I thought maybe you might know something about it.
???-I’ll take a look, where is it?
Chase-It’s in my truck, I’ll be right back!
With that Chase ran upstairs and got the stone from his truck and gave it to Ryder’s dad.
???-Thank you.
With that he grabbed his magnify glass which somehow was undamaged…unlike most of the room and looked at the symbol closely.
???-Hmm, this symbol…I know I’ve seen it somewhere before.
All the pups-WHAT!?
Rocky-Do you think you know what it is!?
???-I’m sorry to say, I don’t…I know I’ve seen it before, but I’ve seen thousands of symbols over the years, and it’s been quite a few years since my archeological days. However, I promise I’ll do my best to find out!
Ryder-*sigh* Thanks.
???-I’m sorry Ryder, I know this must be difficult for you…but in the meantime why don’t you at least try to make the best of it.
Ryder-I guess, but how are we going to go on missions now? I mean, I can’t use my ATV or even my PAW pad in this form.
Rocky-Oh man, that’s right…we always rely on that.
???-Well, you won’t have to worry about that.
Ryder-Huh!?
???-Ryder, need I remind you who taught you how to fix up vehicles and taught you the ins and outs of technology? I’ll be able to get your ATV dog adaptable and get something figured out for you.
Ryder-You will!? Thank you so much!
Skye-Yeah, that’s really awesome!
Chase-Yeah, we deeply appreciate it Mr…oh yeah, I don’t think we caught your name.
Charles-Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to mention it from the shock. My name’s Charles.
Chase-Okay Charles, My name’s Chase, and this is Rocky, Zuma, Rubble, Marshall, and Skye.
Charles-Pleased to meet you.
Ryder-Um dad, earlier we noticed that you turned the water heater into a rocket…again. What exactly happened?
Charles-Oh…that, yeah I was working on a new experiment and needed more electricity to make it work…however I got the wires crossed and instead of it going to what I needed, I sent it to the water heater.
Ryder facepawed
Ryder-HOW did you make that mistake!?
Charles-Eh, explosions happen.
Ryder-Honestly, you’re going to hurt yourself if you’re not careful.
Charles-I’m sorry, I’ll call a plumber to get me a new water heater.
Ryder-Okay, being you have them on speed-dial I think you can handle it.
Charles-Hahaha, yeah I’m their favorite customer.
Ryder just rolled his eyes.
Charles-Anyway, like I was saying earlier I’ll get you’re ATV fixed up and you’ll be back to doing missions in no time. I’ll be over this afternoon to pick it up.
Ryder-Okay, Just be careful.
Charles-I will!
With that the gang said their good-byes and headed home. Once at the lookout the gang got their vehicles put away and went inside the Lookout.
Zuma-Wow dude, your dad sure is something.
Ryder-Ehehehe, yeah he can act like that at times…he’s great with Technology, but he can be kind of a handful.
Chase-I’ll bet, you said he had the Plumber on speed-dial?
Ryder-Yep, as well as the electrician, carpenter, and even the water company.
Marshall-Jeez, are you sure it’s safe to leave him alone!?
Ryder-He’ll be fine, knowing him…he’s more focused on finding a way to get us back up and running. Anyway, it’s still pretty early in the morning and being we can’t do our rescue missions for obvious reasons. What would you guys like to do?
Just then Rubble’s stomach growled loudly.
Rubble-Excuse me, I didn’t get breakfast. So my tummy’s a bit noisy.
Ryder-Oh shoot that’s right, in all of the commotion I never got you guys breakfast! If you guys can get your bowls brought in the Lookout’s main entrance I’ll get you each fed!
Pups-Okay!
With that each of them went and grabbed their bowls. Meanwhile Ryder went back inside and noticed that the bag of pup food seemed much bigger than it was in his normal form. Ryder stared at it for a few seconds.
Ryder-*sigh*This, is going to be tricky.
Ryder carefully knocked the bag on its side, trying to keep the food from spilling out. Once he did that, he grabbed a corner of it with his mouth and dragged it to the main entrance. It took a lot of effort from not only being heavy, but also from the fact he was still trying to get used to his new body.
Meanwhile the pups each got their bowls and raced with them to the main entrance where they each saw Ryder dragging the bag of pup food to them.
Rocky-Whoa, Ryder do you need any help?
Skye-Yeah, that bag’s really heavy!
Ryder-*grunts* No, I got it!
With that he let go of the bag and panted heavily.
Ryder-*pant*It wasn’t easy, *pant* but I got it!
Each of the pups looked at each other, it was clear Ryder had to use a lot of extra effort to get their food bag for them. Even for them it was hard being the bag weighed about a good 75lbs, and when you add the fact of having to use a completely different body…it must have been next to impossible for him to drag it across the Lookout. Ryder noticed this and said.
Ryder-Guys don’t worry, I’m fine! I do harder stuff than this on a daily basis; I’m just having a little trouble adjusting to being a dog. I mean, being I don’t have hands anymore I have to use my mouth and it’s just something that’ll take time to learn how to get the hang of. Now, I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.
With that Ryder grabbed the scoop from the bag with his teeth and used it to pour a scoop of food into each of their food bowls.
Ryder-There you go, eat up!
Chase-Um, thanks Ryder, but I wish you would have asked for help.
Zuma-Yeah, you didn’t have to drag that heavy bag by yourself!
Ryder-It’s fine, really. The bags not that heavy, and besides I’ve gotta learn how to get the hang of using my mouth as hands.
Chase-Well, okay if you say so. Just please don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Ryder-Okay, thanks.
With that the pups began eating and Ryder just watched with a smile.
Chase looked up and then thought of something.
Chase-Ryder, aren’t you going have some?
Ryder-Uh, I’m good…I’m not really hungry.
Rubble-You sure? I mean, you worked harder than any of us and I know from experience just how hard it is to work on an empty stomach.
Skye looked at him and then realized why he was so hesitant.
Skye-Ryder, I know it might sound gross for you to eat dog food, but it might taste good now that you’re a dog…I mean who knows?
Ryder was hesitant about it, but Skye did have a point. He WAS a dog now after all…and he actually was pretty hungry.
Ryder-Well, I don’t know…
Zuma-Just go for it dude! I mean, worst case scenario is you’d get a bad taste in your mouth!
Ryder-Well, okay…I guess I’ve got nothing to lose.
Chase-Okay. Hey Rocky, do you have any dog bowls in your truck?
Rocky-I should, I’ll go look!
With that Rocky got up and raced to his truck, once there he began digging.
Rocky-Hmm, let’s see…toy, no…alarm clock, nope...book on war and peace, heh I was wondering where that went…Ah ha! He said as he brought out a bowl.
With that he ran back inside with a bowl.
Rocky-Got it!
Chase-Thanks!
With that Chase took the bowl from Rocky and set it down next to the bag, afterwards he took the scoop and poured some of the food in the bowl.
Chase-There you go.
Ryder-Th-thanks.
Ryder stared at the food for a few seconds and looked up at his friends and smiled. He then closed his eyes and took a bite of the food, and to his surprise it wasn’t bad.
Skye-So, how is it?
Ryder-It’s not bad; I guess you were right about my sense of taste changing.
Ryder said as he continued eating.
Skye-*Phew* That’s a relief, I would’ve felt terrible if you didn’t like it. Being I was the one who talked you into it.
Ryder-Nah, I wouldn’t have been mad. I mean, you each were just trying to make sure I didn’t get left out.
Skye-Thanks Ryder, that makes me feel much better.
Ryder-No problem. Anyway, now that we’ve each been fed how about we plan out the day?
Chase-Sounds good!
Ryder-Alright, my dad said he’d be over here this afternoon to get the ATV. So we’ve got some free time until then, what do you guys want to do?
Pups-Hmm.
Marshall-Oh, how about we go to the playground!
Chase-I don’t think that’d be a good idea.
Marshall-Why not?
Chase-Think about it, no one else in town knows about what happened to Ryder. So if they find out about him being turned into a pup…it could send the whole town into an uproar.
Marshall-Oh yeah, good point.
Ryder-Yeah, for the time being I think it’s best if we keep this on the down low…at least until I can come up with a way to explain it to them.
Pups-Got it!
Zuma-Yeah, the last thing we need is more drama.
Just then they heard the Lookout’s main door open, and heard a familiar voice from behind.
Katie-Hey guys!
Each of their blood ran cold as the pups slowly turned around and saw Katie standing in the doorway.
Chase gave Zuma an annoyed look and said.
Chase-You had to say it!
Katie-I was on my way to go kite flying and was going to invite Ryder, have you guys seen him?
Each of the pups looked nervous and looked back and forth at each other. It was then Katie noticed another pup behind them.
Katie-Oh, who’s your friend, a new member?
Chase-Uh, not exactly…
Rocky-You see…
Skye-The thing is…
Ryder-…It’s me.
Each of the pups looked at Ryder shocked.
Katie-W-wait, that’s!?
Ryder-Yeah, it’s me…you might want to sit down, it’s quite a story.
With that the gang led Katie to the main sitting area on the Lookout’s top floor, and explained what had happened over the past 24 hours.
Katie-Wow…just wow, that’s amazing. So this stone turned you into a dog?
Ryder-Yeah…my dad’s trying to find out more about the stone.
Katie-Heh, it looks like you got your wish though.
Each of the pups turned to Katie confused.
Pups-HUH!?
They then looked at Ryder.
Rocky-Ryder, is that true?
Ryder blushed and said.
Ryder-Well, kind of…you see, I sometimes wondered what It’d be like to see the world through your eyes…I never thought it’d actually be possible though.
Marshall-Wait, so you wanted to be a dog?
Katie-That’s what he said.
Ryder-Yes, but I also said that I was contempt with being their leader. Anyway, my dad’s going to be here in a little bit to pick up the ATV.
Katie-Right, it will be interesting to see everyone react to this.
Ryder-Don’t remind me…
Katie-Well, to be honest…I think you look really cute as a pup.
She said as she scratched Ryder’s ear.
Ryder blushed.
Ryder-Th-thanks.
Just then they heard a truck pull up.
Ryder-Huh, that must be my dad!
With that each of them got up and rode the elevator to the first floor and saw Charles walk in.
Ryder-Hey dad!
Charles-Hey Ryder, how you holding up?
Ryder-I’m getting used to it.
Just then Charles noticed Katie.
Charles-Oh, hello miss.
Katie-Hello, you must be Ryder’s dad.
Charles-The one and only, you must be one of his friends.
Katie-Yeah, I run the pet salon down the street.
Charles-Ah, I see.
Ryder-Anyway, you sure you can get my ATV to work?
Charles-You kidding I built that thing from scratch, so I know it inside and out!
Ryder-Well, I’m not going to argue with that!
Charles-Good, now I’ve got a little surprise for you.
Ryder-A surprise?
Charles-Yep, close your eyes.
With that Ryder closed his eyes and felt something go around his neck.
Charles-Okay, open them.
With that Ryder looked down and it conformed what he thought it was. He was wearing a purple collar with a pup badge on it.
Ryder-A collar?
Charles-Yep, I thought that being you can’t exactly use your Paw pad…I’d whip something up for you. You see, that badge is one of the ones your friends have, but upgraded.
Ryder-Upgraded?
Charles-Yep, I took the microchip out of one of the Paw pads and mixed it into the communicator’s system. So it will be able to receive calls like a Pup pad, only without the screen.
Ryder-WOW, that’s amazing! How in the world did you make them compatible!?
Charles-Heh, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. Anyway, that will be able to handle your calls and it’s got one more function.
Ryder-What’s that?
Charles-It’s a function to get your team together, and to activate it just bark and say “Call all Pups!”
Ryder-Uh, bark?
Charles-Sorry, it was still installed in the badge.
Ryder-*sigh*Okay, just promise not to laugh.
With that Ryder barked the best he could and said.
Ryder-*bark* Call all pups!
Just then each of the pup’s badges lit up, including his!
Ryder-Wow, awesome!
Charles-Yep, I was able to make it so it’s able to call different people, or pups at the same time like the Pup pad.
Ryder-Wow dad, you really went over the top!
Katie-Yeah, that’s just crazy!
Charles-I’m happy to help, I mean you do so much for Adventure Bay. Also, there’s one last thing about the badge you should see.
Ryder-What’s that?
Charles-Check the symbol!
With that Ryder looked at the symbol.
Ryder-Hey wait, this is!?
Charles-Yep, it’s the symbol on the stone. The reason I chose it is because of what it means. You see, the big star in the middle represents you and the smaller stars around it represent your friends. Showing that you’re all connected, plus it’s what changed you so I thought it’d be only fitting.
Ryder-Wow, that’s actually very poetic. Thank you dad!
Charles-No problem.
With that Ryder helped his dad get his ATV loaded in the back of his trailer and they said their good-byes.
Once he left each of the pups gathered around Ryder.
Zuma-Wow dude, your Dad’s SO cool!
Ryder-Yeah, he sure is something…It looks like things are finally looking up.
Meanwhile that night at Ryder’s house, Charles was sitting on a chair in front of his desk deep in thought.
Charles-Hmm, that symbol…I know I’ve seen it somewhere before, but where…I’m the verge of remembering.
Just then it hit him.
Charles-*gasp*OH NO!
With that he ran over to his book shelf and started to madly search through the books.
Charles-Come on come on, where is it!?
He then took one of the books and started whipping through pages until he found the one he was looking for.
Charles-No…this is the symbol of the, but that means this stone is…oh my god…
