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Summery
Ryder gives zip a mission to deliver supplies to Jake. eager to succeed at her first solo mission and impress Ryder, zip races to Jake's mountain but messes up and needs Everest to help her out. They get back safe, and Zip discovers that she doesn't need to prove she belongs.
Characters
Marshall
Chase
Skye
Rubble
Zuma
Rocky
Ryder
Everest
Story
A bright orange frisbee whistles across the overcast sky until wham! It smacks into a dalmatian’s head causing him to topple onto the soft green grass. “Owww!”
“Sorry Marshall” Zip, a black and tan kelpie, says. Giggling at her best friend’s lack of coordination. Marshall passes back the frisbee and Zip catches it effortlessly in between her teeth. They go back and forth like this for half an hour or so until a young boy emerges from the sliding doors of a nearby tower. The boy in question is the leader of the PAW Patrol, a team of rescue pups that Zip and Marshall are both a part of. “Ryder!” Zip shouts, eagerly running up to him.
“Hey Zip.” Ryder greets her with a warm smile.
“Ryder,” Zip says again “I have something to show you.”
“Go ahead.” Ryder replies, interested to see what stunt the energetic pup had come up with. Zip nods to Marshall and he tosses the Frisbee up into the air. Zip runs towards it and then leaps into the air soaring higher and higher, but the Frisbee goes high, and Zip is forced to break her fall with a shaky roll along the grassy ground.
“Sorry,” Zip says dejectedly “Let me try again.”
“Ok, but it was already really good.” Ryder reassured her.
“No, it wasn’t.” But before Zip could try again a ringing issues from Ryder’s pocket. Ryder pulls out his pup-pad and takes the call. Zip’s ears droop, she knows the call is probably important, but she really wanted to impress Ryder with her trick. Zip’s suspicions are confirmed when Ryder’s voice comes not just from his mouth but also from the shield shaped pup tags around Zip’s and Marshall’s necks.
“PAW Patrol to the lookout!”
“Ryder needs us!” Zip and Marshall say in unison, although Zip is sure that the other five members of the paw patrol are saying it too, and sure enough the other pups reach the crest of the hill that the lookout is stationed on. Zip runs into the circular elevator with the others, but Marshall is a bit slower.
“Wait for me!” He shouts, his speech slightly muffled by the Frisbee still in his mouth.
“Marshall, look out!” Skye warns, but it’s too late. Marshall trips over a stray chew toy and crashes into the other pups sending them sprawling across the elevator floor.
“Sorry pups,” Marshall says as the Frisbee he had been holding rolls across the floor before coming to a stop with a spin. “I guess I kinda spun out there.” The pups burst out laughing at Marshall’s bad pun. As the elevator starts to ascend, they put on their gear and prepare for a mission. Upon arriving at the top, the elevator gives off a faint ding, and the pups rush out. Once they line up in their practiced order Chase says his typical line.
“PAW Patrol ready for action Ryder sir!” Ryder smiles at Chases ‘by the book’ approach and then presses the button to make a screen drop down, stopping just before it hits the complicated panel of buttons. Ryder turns to face the pups. “Thanks for hurrying pups, now as you may have noticed a snowstorm is coming.” He motions to the grey clouds visible out of the lookout’s windows. “We need to get some supplies up to Jake and Everest before the storm hits, so we’ll need to do it fast. That’s why I’ll need…” He says swiping through options on his pup pad before coming to rest on a purple button. “Zip. I need you to use your race car to deliver the supplies quickly before the storm.”
“Fast is what I do!” Zip faithfully replies.
“Just not too fast Zip,” Ryder warns “The roads up to the mountain are rough, but I know you cand do it.” He says with a smile. Ryder pumps his fist “Alright, PAW Patrol is on a roll!”
“Aroooh!” Zip howls excitedly as she races towards the slide, eager to impress Ryder with her first solo mission.
---
About ten minutes later Zip is out of town, supplies tucked into her purple and blue race car. As she heads onto the mountain road, her tires roll quickly along the black bitumen road. As Zip continues, the pine trees slowly become thicker, and the air a little colder. A jolt goes though Zip as the road turns to gravel and her tires slide at the unexpected change of surfaces, but a turn of the steering wheel with an experienced paw, straightens the race car out. “That was too close.” Zip says out loud, her voice shaky. What if she had crashed? She couldn’t disappoint Ryder by not finishing her mission. A cool crystalline something lands on Zip’s nose. A Snowflake! The storm must be coming sooner than expected. Her resolve thickening, Zip pushes down harder on the accelerator, her vehicle surging forwards at its fastest pace yet. The corners are sharper now, but Zip knew she could handle it, or at any rate, knew she had to.
---
Almost there, Zip thought to herself as the strong wind turned her ears inside out. Just as she successfully turned a particularly hard corner, a huge grey boulder looms over her from the middle of the road! “Woooah!” She exclaims. In a split-second decision Zip yanks the steering wheel to the right. The wheels screech in protest before slipping out completely, sending Zip into an all-out spin, before, crash! A tree collides with the front of her car. Zip blinks, her head racing, and her heart sinking. Had she really just crashed? Zip checks herself over like Marshall had taught her. Luckily, she’s unharmed. Zip hops out to check the damage to her vehicle, still in disbelief. Not too bad, Zip thinks to herself. Only a large dent on the front wing, and surprisingly no flat tires. With any luck she could get back on the road without anyone noticing her mistake. Her stomach lurches at the thought of what Ryder would say if he found out. She looked up at the embankment that led to the road, all she had to do was push her car up that. Hard, she thought, but not impossible.
---
“One, two, three, go!” Zip says shoving her race car forward and putting all her weight behind it. The front wheels mount the embankment, before rolling back down the now snowy slope for what felt like the hundredth time. “I give up.” She says, blinking back tears. She climbs back into her race car pressing the emergency button Ryder had installed as a fail safe for the pup tags. She could have used her pup tag. It was still fully operational after all, but she couldn’t bring herself to talk to Ryder and explain how badly she’d messed up. Feeling defeated she curls in the seat of her vehicle and waits for help to arrive.
---
“Woohoo!” Everest exclaims, after beating Jake at Pup Pup boogie for the fifth time in a row (though he was at a disadvantage as the game was not designed for bipeds). Everest is a husky pup and a member of the PAW Patrol, though unlike the main member instead of living at the lookout she lives on the mountain with her friend and owner Jake.
“Nice one Everest.” Jake congratulates her on her wins. As the air is chilly on their mountain, Everest had spent many of the days practising the game inside their warm chalet. If only I had another pup to play with, Everest thinks. Her ears perk up. Hadn’t Ryder told her a new pup was coming today to deliver supplies? What was her name again, Dash, Zoomer? Whatever, maybe she could stay a while and play with her. Just after she finished that happy thought, her pup tag lights up with a turquoise light.
“Hey Everest.” says a boy’s voice coming from the glowing tag.
“Hi Ryder.” Everest replies, happy to hear from her friend.
“I need your help,” Ryder continues, his tone anxious. “That pup I sent with supplies, she sent out an emergency signal. Since the snowstorm is here, I need you to use your snowcat to navigate down the mountain and to her location and help her out.”
“Ice or Snow, I’m ready to go!” Everest responds faithfully before adding “one question, What’s her name?”
“Zip.” That was my next guess, Everest thinks to herself.
“I won’t let you down.” she says out loud. Her pup tag goes dark, but before Everest can get to her vehicle Jake stops her.
“I want to come with you. It’s dangerous with this storm.” He says “And maybe I’m a bit curious about this new pup” he says as an afterthought. Everest agrees and the two hop onto the snow cat (Everest in the driver’s seat and Jake standing on the back). They begin driving to the rescue.
---
Zip shivers. It’s colder now and the carpet of snow on the ground is certainly thicker than it was before. Zip’s ears perk up at the sound of a vehicle on the road. Could it be one of her friends from the lookout coming to help her? But interestingly the sound is coming from up the mountain, not down it. As the sound draws nearer a white and teal snow cat appears. A young man, probably in his twenties, is standing on the back, and in the driver's seat is an unfamiliar husky. “Hey Zip!” The husky says in a cheery tone considering the situation.
“How do you know my name?” Zip says wearily. She studies the other pup, and her eyes fall upon a pup tag the same shape as her own. Zip thinks about what the other pups had told her.
“Are you Everest?” She asks shyly.
“Sure am!” Everest replies, excited that Zip has heard of her.
“And I’m Jake.” The young man adds.
“Anyways, looks like you could use a paw.” Everest says, jumping out of her vehicle and onto the snowy ground.
“Yeah, I guess.” Zip says, reluctant to accept help, but knowing that she doesn’t really have a choice. Now fully focused on her mission, Everest barks out her grapple and attaches one end to the back of Zip’s vehicle, and the other to the front of her own.
“I going to drag you up.” Everest tells Zip, “Just try to keep the wheels straight.” Zip nods as Everest starts her engine again and puts her vehicle in reverse. She starts backing up and slowly drags Zip up the steep ridge. Zip keeps her paws on the steering wheel, determined to get at least this instruction right. Eventually, the race car reaches the slippery road and Everest unhooks her grapple, feeding it back into her pup pack. Everest smiles “The road is too snowy for you to get back to the lookout on your own, but we can use my snowplough to help. I’m sure Ryder and the other pups will be happy to see you.” Zip lets out a faint whine. “what’s wrong Zip?” Everest asks, hopping out of her vehicle and edging towards Zip like one does when approaching a frightened forest animal.
“Nothing!” Zip says hurriedly.
“Doesn’t sound like nothing.” Everest pushes.
“I-just err,” Zip sighs, knowing Everest won’t relent, she decides to tell the truth. “I’m worried Ryder won’t like me anymore.” She says hurriedly, as if wanting to get it over with quickly.
“What do you mean?” Everest enquires, wanting Zip to tell her more but not wanting to scare her away.
“I mean, he gave me a chance, he trusted me enough to give me a solo mission, but I let him down.” Zip closes her eyes, waiting for Everest to tell her that she was right, that Ryder would never trust or like her again. But Everest stays silent. Slowly, Zip opens her eyes to see Everest giving her a sad, sympathetic smile.
“Zip,” She finally says. “Ryder doesn’t care if you mess up a thousand times. He loves you for being you.”
“W-what do you mean?” Zip says looking questioningly into Everest’s blue eyes. Everest looks back at Zip, realising that Zip genuinely can’t believe what she is saying.
“How many times do you think the rest of us have needed help?” Everest says gently “That’s what being part of a team is all about, helping each other when we need it. Ryder cares about all of us no matter how many mistakes we make” Zip nods, starting to believe that what Everest is saying just might be true. “Are you ready to go back to the Lookout?”
“Yes.” Zip says, still a bit sceptical, but knowing she will have to face Ryder eventually. Everest activates her snowplough and she and Jake set off down the mountain with Zip following behind.
---
Ryder paces anxiously in the Lookout’s control room. He knows that Everest can help Zip on her own, but he’s not used to taking the backseat and had been tracking the pups’ location for the last hour or so. They should be here by now, Ryder thinks to himself, looking at the pups’ location again on the big screen. Cartoon icons of a husky and a kelpie, are practically on top of the Lookout on the map. Sure enough, Ryder hears a ding from the elevator and whirls around to face it. For a second he panics, only seeing Jake and Everest, but with a second look he sees a kelpie behind the husky. “Zip!” He exclaims, happy to see her safe and unharmed. He rushes in to give her a hug and Zip lets out a squeak of surprise. “I’m so glad you’re safe.” Ryder says. Zip freezes in surprise. This isn’t at all what she was expecting.
“You’re not disappointed?” She enquires cautiously. Ryder loosened his embrace.
“No, of course not Zip. Why would I be?” he replies.
“Well, I-I messed up, you trusted me, but I failed you.”
“Zip,” Ryder says, his tone kind but a little guilty, he had never realised Zip felt this way. “I don’t care if you mess up a thousand times, we’re a team and we look out for each other.” Zip looks over at Everest, who smiles back at her. Ryder’s words are so similar to the husky’s that Zip suspects Everest didn’t come up with them to begin with. Zip hugs Ryder back, finally believing that what he says is true.
---
[feel free to stop reading here as the main story is over, but keep going for character interactions.]
---
The snow crunches under Zip’s paws as she and Everest walk in comfortable silence. They had taken the slide down from the Lookout while Jake stayed with Ryder, but none of the other pups were in sight, so they had decided to go for a walk to see if they might find them. Zip hadn’t experienced snow before and when you weren’t stranded on the side of a mountain it was quite nice really. Cold, but nice thinks Zip. Everest, with her talkative nature, is the first to break the silence. “Told you Ryder cares about you no matter what.” Everest says swiping playfully at the pom-pom on Zip’s new purple beanie. Ryder had given it to her before they left the lookout. “Maybe next time believe me from the start!”
“Everest!” Zip laughs.
“What? It’s true!” Everest response, grinning. “It would have been wayyy easier.”
Zip scoops up a chunk of snow and lobs it at Everest in playful retaliation. “Oh, it is so on!” Everest says scooping up her own snowball. As the PAW Patrols snow pup, she never misses a chance for a snowball fight and soon snowballs are flying everywhere. Well at least Zip’s are, Everest’s are mostly hitting their target and Zip was copping more than her fair share of snow. But that didn’t stop her from enjoying her first proper snowball fight. Everest throws another snowball at the kelpie, but by pure chance Zip slips over causing the projectile to miss her by an inch. Both pups laugh at the accidental dodge.
“Maybe not being used to snow might actually help me!” Zip Jokes. But she abruptly stops laughing as Everest lands another snowball hit. “Hitting me when I’m down,” Zip complains as she gets up, “that’s low!” Zip tries to make it sound like she really cares, but a giggle gives her away. Everest is too busy laughing and making more snowballs to respond.
---
To be continued
Notes
- This is my second ever fanfiction