Different Horizons-A Paw Patrol Story

Chapter Six

Ryder walked out of the garage. He wiped his hands with a cloth rag and set it aside. Ryder looked out into the town. It was so peaceful that he couldn't believe they had troubles with Harold in the same place earlier that day.

Ryder frowned at the thought of what people in Adventure Bay may think. How could anyone live there? Every week, they had to hope that a group of pups and a young boy could protect them from the world. They fought off villains, dealt with aliens, and even fought against celebrities disappearing buildings. It was not a regular town.

Ryder pushed those thoughts away and walked into the Lookout. He watched from the entrance as the pups sat around the television and watched a movie. Everest was at the cabin with Jake, so it was only the original six members. None of them seemed to notice Ryder, except for Chase.

Chase looked at Ryder and smiled, causing Ryder to smile back. Chase was the only pup who still had their uniform on. Chase turned back to the TV, but Ryder kept smiling. He was so grateful to have the German Shepherd as his second-in-command. Without Chase, Ryder felt like he would've crumbled in stress long ago. When anything happened with Ryder, Chase managed to hold the team together long enough to save the day. An insecure thought pulled at the back of Ryder's mind, but he pushed it away. It wasn't worth thinking about it.

"Hey, pups," Ryder asked. "Would you mind following me outside? There is something I wanted to show you."

"Sure," they said in unison. The pups got up and walked out of the Lookout. Rubble paused the movie before catching up with the others.

Once the pups were outside, Ryder continued. "As you all know, Rocky and I have been working on a secret project for a while now. We didn't show you because we didn't want to raise any expectations if it were to fail. But after putting in some minor adjustments, it is ready for a demonstration."

Rocky stepped forward. "Are you going to reveal the machine?" he asked.

"That's right, Rocky," Ryder replied.

Rocky jumped up and down with excitement. They worked on it for so long, and he hated hiding things from the pups, especially his best friend, Zuma. He ran towards the garage entrance. "Come on, guys, you're going to love this." The others laughed and followed after him.

When Ryder and the pups arrived at the garage doors, the young boy opened them. Inside the garage was a large machine. Ryder pressed a button, and the automated platform it was on rolled the invention outside.

The pups gasped in surprise as to how big it was. The machine stood eight feet tall, six feet wide, and two feet in thickness. The outside edges were rectangular, but the inside was an oval-shaped opening. Wires, tubes, and boxes stuck out of the machine. A laptop rested on a platform attached to the right side.

"Woah," the pups said.

"What is it?" Skye asked.

"Is that a time machine?" Rubble asked.

Ryder laughed. "No, Rubble. It's a teleportation device." He walked over to the laptop. Ryder typed into it, and the image inside the machine warped and bent as if someone was changing their perspective of the other side. After a moment, the waves stopped, and the image reverted to its original state. Other than a low humming coming from the machine, nothing changed.

"Is it working?" Rocky asked.

"Let's find out," Ryder said. "Chase, since you're the only one with your uniform, could I borrow your hat?"

"Uh, sure," Chase said hesitantly. He tipped his head down and let his hat drop. Chase snatched it from the bill as it fell in front of him. He walked forward and offered it to Ryder.

"Thank you," Ryder said. Ryder examined the hat, then tossed it into the machine.

The hat flew into the machine's center. As it passed, the image warped again. The hat disappeared, and the image returned to its original form.

"Uh, Ryder?" Rocky expressed

"Give it a second," Ryder said. As he finished his sentence, a humming noise came from above.

They all looked up to see a section of the sky warp as the machine did. They watched as something formed in the air and dropped slowly. It wasn't until it fell closer that they realized it was Chase's hat. Chase walked over to where the hat was falling and made it land on his head. It landed sideways, so Chase jerked his head to put it back in its place.

"That's awesome," Chase said.

"Thanks," Ryder and Rocky said.

"How far can it go?" Marshall asked.

"Right now, we can only send things a few feet and no bigger than a hat at a time without shorting a circuit," Rocky said. "We need to find a better power source and a way to control it."

"Control it?" Zuma asked. "What does that mean?"

"The energy has to disperse evenly. If it's not, it can cause failures in the machine, which can be anything from sending something to the wrong place or not sending it anywhere at all." The pups nodded understandingly.

"What do you think can make that kind of energy?" Skye asked.

"Our guess is the crystals," Rocky said. "But right now, they are too unstable to put into this, so we have to adjust the machine and run some tests."

"When this machine is up and running, it will save us time like nothing. It could help Mr. Porter with his deliveries."

"Or Farmer Yumi and Farmer Al," Marshall said.

"And help us to send stuff from Adventure City," Rubble added.

"The possibilities are limitless," Rocky said. "But first, it has to work."

"That's all I wanted to show you. You pups may go okay now."

The pups had more questions to ask, but they figured Ryder didn't want to answer them all, so they went off. The pups chose to have a dance battle on Pup Pup Boogie.

"Winners get their vehicle cleaned by the other pups for a whole month," Chase explained the rules. "Since it's six of us, we split into three groups. Whoever totals up the most points between the two wins."

"Me and Zuma will be a group," Rocky said.

"Marshall and I could be another group," Rubble said.

Chase looked at Skye. "I guess you and I are a group, huh?"

"I don't mind, Chase," Skye replied with a smile. Chase smiled back but turned away before it could get awkward.

"Let the game begin," Chase said.