Patch & Thunderbolt

Chapter Four: A Sinking Ship And A Falling Bridge

Things have gotten worse for Patch at the start of his second week into his career. Patch had Amber on his mind everyday since the day the two first met, and all the dogs who were rescued from the dognapper that day laughed at him for the way he did Thunderbolt's bark after that rescue everytime he and Thunderbolt were brought to London for their walk breaks; all this caused him to start having trouble working on the next episode of his and Thunderbolt's show throughout the entire week. He had been forgetting what was written for him in scripts, tripping over the props used on the set, and sounding worse while trying to improve his voice for Thunderbolt's heroic bark. After seeing Patch having such a hard time at work, Thunderbolt had become more ashamed of himself; he had not been standing up for Patch when the crowd of dogs laughed at him everytime the two friends were seen by them, but he tried getting him to ignore them and walk away from them as fast as he could without being held back by one of the leashes that the producer was holding on to. Because of all the pressure that Patch had been under, he and the rest of the crew for The Thunderbolt And Patch Adventure Hour were not able to get another episode finished after the premiere. Everyone in the studio was worried about Patch. His family was even more worried about him when Roger received a call from the producer about the pup's failure at work.

After a few more weeks of bad luck at work, Patch was taken to London with his family for a walk before afternoon came. Patch's family was discussing how poorly he had been doing at work lately, much to his dismay.

"Patch, I don't understand what made you fail at work," said Pongo. "What has been on your mind lately?"

Patch miserably turned his head away without answering his father.

"I think I know," said Lucky. "It's Amber, isn't it?"

Patch now sadly hung his head, still not giving an answer.

"Come on, Patch," said Lucky. "We know it well. We know that you have been thinking about Amber ever since we first met her."

Patch took a deep sigh and looked up.

"Okay," Patch said to his family. "You're right. I have been thinking a lot about Amber. I'm just bothered that Amber has been living her life without a family and a real home. I don't know how much longer she'll live if she continues to live in that junkyard."

"She's been a street dog almost her whole life," said Rolly. "She's doing all she can to survive."

"I know. But still, I don't think that junkyard is the right place for her to live. She could get sick. Or worse, she could die."

"Calm down, Patch. We all are worried about how Amber has been living her life, and like you, we really want to help her find a real home and a family. But she's right; you don't have to worry about her. She might have some luck finding those things. Anyway, you've got to get her off your mind and concentrate more on your career."

"Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't let the thought of Amber make me fail on my career. You guys and Thunderbolt have been worried about me after what happened at work for the past few weeks. But even if I don't have Amber on my mind, I'd still have trouble at work, because those dogs that I rescued still have been laughing at me for the way I did Thunderbolt's bark everyday when Thunderbolt and I come here for our walk breaks. I can't believe that Thunderbolt and I have wasted our heroic efforts on those dogs. We shouldn't have rescued them from being sent to Antarctica where they could have frozen to death."

"But Patch, if you hadn't rescued those dogs from the dognapper, you wouldn't have met Amber. And Amber was one of the dogs you've rescued, wasn't she?"

Patch lowered his head, now realizing what Rolly just said to him.

"Yes," said Patch sadly. "Of course."

"Cheer up, Patch," said Rolly, jumping into a cheerful mood. "Nothing bad is going to happen today. It's a happy day. I can see it all. I can hear it all. And I can feel it all, yes. Blue skies, green grass, bright sun, healthy breeze, birds singing, children playing, people on a sinking ship screaming for help--"

Patch's eyes widened in shock after hearing what Rolly just said.

"What?!" Patch gasped. "People on a sinking ship screaming for help?!"

"Yeah," said Rolly happily. "There's a ship that just collided with Tower Bridge. Now, Tower Bridge is damaged, the ship is sinking, and the people on the ship are screaming for help. Come and take a look."

The rest of the Dalmatian family followed Rolly to Tower Bridge to see it falling apart and find people on a sinking ship screaming for help.

"See?" said Rolly excitedly. "I told you. Isn't this great?"

"Rolly, how could you say that?" said Patch, disappointed in what Rolly just said. "Those people's lives are in danger! This is a bad thing!"

"No, Patch, this is a good thing. I'm just saying that because this is your chance to prove yourself a hero to everyone in London yet again."

Patch looked back and forth to see if Thunderbolt had arrived in London yet, but Thunderbolt was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Thunderbolt?" asked Patch, starting to feel worried. "I can't do this without him."

"Patch, Thunderbolt doesn't usually come to London this early when we meet him on the weekends," said Lucky.

"I know, but he and I always do heroic stuff together. I need him here, right now."

"Patch, those people's lives are in danger, and they'll get sunk to the bottom with that ship and the collapsing bridge if you don't do something. We know you need Thunderbolt to help you save those people, but there's no time to wait for him. Those people need help, right now."

Patch did not know what to do. He needed Thunderbolt's help to rescue the people on the ship, but he did not want to let the people on the ship go down to the bottom of the water. He continued to stare at the people on the ship in fear. There was no alternative.

"All right," said Patch, now knowing that he did not have any other choice. "I'll try to rescue those people myself, and quick."

"You won't have to do it alone, Patch," said Pongo. "We'll be here to help until Thunderbolt gets here."

"Right. I'll call for you when I need your help. I'm going in."

Patch took a few steps back from the bridge to get a good running start, ran forward until he reached the end of the bridge, and took a huge leap from the edge of the bridge to the ship. He ran between the people on the ship to search it in order to find something that could help them out of there. His search came to an end when he found a long piece of rope. He picked up the rope with his teeth, took it to the captain of the ship, and dropped it in front of the captain's feet so that he could bark at him to get his attention. The captain looked down at Patch after he heard him barking.

"What is it, boy?" said the captain, kneeling down to face Patch.

Patch pushed the rope closer to the captain with his nose and barked his plan to him, while jerking his head at the end of the bridge where his family could be seen. The captain picked up the rope in front of him, looked down at it, and looked up to see Patch's family at the end of the bridge.

"Yes," said the captain, nodding his head, confirming that he understood Patch's plan really well. "I see."

Patch ran up to the top of the ship to face his family, while the captain got the rope ready.

"Hey, you guys!" Patch shouted across the distance between the ship and the end of the bridge where he could see his family. "I'm going to signal the captain of this ship to throw one end of the rope to you! It'll be up to you to catch it and tie it to a post on land as tight as you can, and then signal the passengers to climb up the rope so that they can safely get back on land!"

Patch's family nodded at each other.

"All right, you heard what Patch said," Pongo said to Patch's siblings and Perdita. "Let's get ready to help save those people."

"Wait, Patch!" Rolly shouted to Patch as best as he could. "What are you gonna do to signal the captain to throw the rope to us?"

Patch had been thinking really hard about what to use as a signal, now that Rolly had mentioned it. Patch was thinking about doing Thunderbolt's heroic bark, even though he knew that pups do not have the voice to do that. But Patch had no choice, and Rolly told him on their first family walk in London with Thunderbolt not to do that bark unless he really needed to.

"I can't believe I'm about to do this," Patch called back regretfully, "but I have no choice but to use Thunderbolt's bark as my signal!"

"Go ahead, Patch!" Rolly called back. "We won't laugh at you for it again, right now, since you're about to do that bark because you really need to! And I told you before to only do that bark if you really need to!"

"Go on, Patch!" Lucky called to Patch as best as he could. "We're all ready!"

There was no more thinking about it. Patch did Thunderbolt's heroic bark as loud as he could, with his voice having gotten weaker ever since he started having trouble at work after the premiere episode of his and Thunderbolt's show. After the bark, the captain of the ship threw one end of the rope to the end of the bridge, where Pongo caught the end of the rope in midair with his teeth. Perdita and Patch's siblings grabbed the rope with their teeth and helped Pongo pull it to the nearest lamp post on land.

"All right, children," Perdita said to the pups. "Tie the rope around this post very tightly."

Pongo, Perdita, and the pups tied the rope around the post securely.

"That should be tight enough," said Pongo, and he went over to the edge of the damaged bridge to signal the people on the sinking ship to climb up the rope by barking at them.

The captain of the ship grabbed on to the rope, ready to climb back up on land.

"Get ready, all of you!" the captain called to all the passengers on the ship. "Grab on to the rope and climb!"

All the passengers on the ship followed the captain's orders. While everyone on the sinking ship climbed up the rope to get back on land, Patch ran down the ship and searched everywhere on it to check if there were still any people on it.

"That's about everyone, isn't it?" Pongo said as all the people safely got back on land from being sunk with the ship.

"Yes, that's everyone, all right," said Perdita, staring at the sinking ship tearfully. "Except Patch."

"He'll be all right, Perdita. He's now checking if there are any more people still on the ship."

After searching all over the ship, Patch found that there were no more people still on it, so he ran to the rope, tightly grabbed on to it with his teeth and paws, and started climbing. He shook in fear as he climbed up the rope, for he looked up to see that more of Tower Bridge was falling apart on his way back up on land.

"Oh, no!" Patch cried as more parts of Tower Bridge fell into his direction.

Afraid that he would get knocked off the rope by one of the falling parts of the bridge that were bigger than him, Patch shakingly clutched the rope close to him and tightly shut his eyes, which felt to him as if the entire bridge was about to collapse on him. His family and all the rescued passengers became worried about him, and they were all waiting to see if he could make it back alive. His family became a bit relieved when they heard Thunderbolt arrive in London on schedule.

"Hey, you guys!" Thunderbolt called to Patch's family. "What made you come here to London so early?"

"Never mind that, now," said Pongo, looking worried. "Patch needs you."

Thunderbolt's ears pointed up, looking shocked.

"He does?" he asked. "What happened?"

"Patch just saved these people from a ship that is being sunk by Tower Bridge," said Pongo, looking even more worried as he jerked his head at the collapsing bridge. "He's still down there, and he needs your help."

Shocked by this news, Thunderbolt hurried over to the edge of the damaged bridge to see Patch still clinging on to the rope and shaking with fear.

"Patch, look up!" Thunderbolt shouted to Patch.

Patch opened his eyes and looked up the bridge when he heard Thunderbolt calling him.

"Thunderbolt!" Patch cried, sounding more frightened than ever. "Help me!"

"Hang in there, little buddy!" Thunderbolt called back as he saw more parts of the bridge falling towards Patch. "I'll pull you back up!"

Thunderbolt grabbed the rope with his teeth to pull Patch back up. More parts of Tower Bridge were falling into Patch's direction as Thunderbolt pulled the rope; one of the parts that were about twice as big as Patch knocked Patch unconscious, causing him to completely let go of the rope and fall really hard into the water, where the ship was already halfway sunk. Thunderbolt let go of the rope after seeing this happen and gasped in fear.

"Patch!" Thunderbolt panicked, and he dived into the water to save Patch.

Patch's family and all the rescued passengers became more worried than ever. They waited in complete silence to see if Thunderbolt could make it back alive with Patch. Perdita tearfully laid her head down on Pongo's shoulder, now believing that Patch and Thunderbolt might not make it back on land alive. Finally, after a few more seconds of waiting in silence, Patch's family and all the rescued passengers gasped in relief when they saw Thunderbolt reach out a paw and pull himself back on land while carrying Patch by the collar with his teeth. Thunderbolt gently laid Patch down on the ground and shook himself dry, while Patch's family came closer to see how Patch was doing.

"Don't come too close," Thunderbolt said to Patch's family. "He needs some air."

Shaking, Patch slowly took some deep breaths and opened his eyes.

"Thunderbolt?" said Patch, his voice sounding weak as he shivered from being in the water.

Thunderbolt sighed in relief after seeing Patch still alive.

"Oh, Patch," said Thunderbolt softly. "Thank goodness you're all right."

"Yeah, Patch," said Penny. "We were all worried about you."

"You did it, though," said Lucky. "You saved all those people from being sunk with that ship."

Patch sat up and started to feel disappointed in himself.

"I did it again, did I?" said Patch. "I did Thunderbolt's bark. I can't believe I did that."

"It's okay, Patch," said Rolly gently. "We're not going to laugh at you for it, because you only did that to signal the captain to throw the rope to us so that we can help you save those people. And that's doing the bark only when you really need to, like I said. And those dogs that kept laughing at you are not here, so there's no one around to laugh at you for the way you did Thunderbolt's bark, right now."

"Guess again!" said a voice in singsong tone behind Thunderbolt and the Dalmatian family.

They all turned around to see that it was a sheepdog among a large group of other dogs, who were the same dogs that Patch had rescued from being sent to Antarctica. They all began to laugh and point at Patch. Patch dropped himself down on the ground, feeling downhearted.

"What's the matter?" said a poodle, mocking a tone of concern. "Not happy to see your fans?"

"Your bark sounds even worse than as if someone sat on a squeaky toy, you little runt!" said a black Labrador.

"Yeah, we heard it very well!" said a collie. "You call yourself a hero?"

"Why don't you just give up and let a big dog do the hero stuff, kid?" said a Scottish terrier.

All the dogs in the crowd continued laughing at Patch.

"Wait, you guys, I got an idea!" the sheepdog said to the crowd. "How about we celebrate this pup's heroic moment after he showed how much of a really big coward he is to even save himself!"

He took a fistful of grass, and the rest of the crowd followed his move.

"Everybody got the confetti ready?" he asked the rest of the crowd. "Here we go, on the count to three! One, two, three!"

All the dogs blew the grass at Patch and continued to laugh at him as all the blown grass stuck to his wet body. Just seeing all this happen was starting to get on Thunderbolt's nerves. Thunderbolt remembered what Amber told him about not being afraid to stand up for Patch or any of his friends, so he became very angry and jumped in front Patch to face the crowd just like Amber did after the rescue from the dognapper.

"OH, THAT DOES IT!" Thunderbolt yelled at the crowd, his temper rising by the second. "I'VE JUST ABOUT HAD IT WITH ALL OF YOU RIDICULING MY FRIEND, WHO IS JUST TRYING HIS BEST TO LEARN EVERYTHING HE COULD TO BE LIKE ME! AMBER WAS RIGHT! PATCH AND I SHOULDN'T HAVE RESCUED YOU FROM THAT DOGNAPPER IN THE FIRST PLACE! INSTEAD, WE SHOULD'VE ONLY RESCUED AMBER AND LEFT THE REST OF YOU LOCKED UP IN YOUR CAGES SO YOU CAN BE SENT TO ANTARCTICA, WHERE YOU CAN ALL FREEZE TO DEATH! BUT NO! WE HAD TO RESCUE YOU! AND YOU SHOULD'VE BEEN GRATEFUL THAT MY FRIEND HERE HAD SAVED YOUR LIVES, BUT YOU HAD TO BE STUPID AND LAUGH AT HIM JUST BECAUSE HE CAN'T DO MY BARK RIGHT! YOU IDIOTS CALL YOURSELVES FANS OF HIS?! A TRUE FAN WOULD NEVER EVEN BE SEEN DOING SOMETHING LIKE THIS!"

Thunderbolt charged at the crowd to attack them. First, he took huge bites on them. Then, he used his teeth to pull on their ears and tails very hard, making it look as if he is actually going to rip them off. Finally, he grabbed one of those dogs' tails with his teeth, swung that dog around, and had let go to make that dog fly at the rest of the dogs, causing it to knock them all down to the ground. Thunderbolt now confronts the crowd, who are now piled up on top of each other and seriously suffering from the pain that he caused them.

"Get out, all of you!" Thunderbolt growled furiously at the crowd. "Don't ever mess with my friend again!"

Afraid that Thunderbolt will cause them even more pain, the crowd ran away from him in fear. Thunderbolt breathed heavily as he watched the crowd leave. The entire Dalmatian family were shocked to see Thunderbolt so angry.

"Thunderbolt!" Patch gasped. "I've never seen you this angry."

Thunderbolt started to calm down as he wondered if he scared Patch with his anger that he used to stand up for him.

"I know," said Thunderbolt sadly, his ears flopping down. "I'm sorry you had to see me like that. I didn't mean to scare you. I was just trying to remember what Amber told me; I had to show that I have enough courage to stand up for you. You're my friend, and I don't want to see anything bad happen to you. I--I was just trying to do whatever it takes to help you."

Shaking, Patch looked up at Thunderbolt tearfully.

"Thank you," said Patch, his spirits now becoming low, "but I have a terrible feeling that those dogs are still going to laugh at me when I show up again, no matter how much you'd stand up for me. I'm tired of taking walks here in London during weekends and breaks from work just to be laughed at by those dogs."

He took a sigh of regret for what he was about to say next.

"Thunder, I hate to do this, but I'm gonna have to quit working with you," he said.

Patch's family and Thunderbolt became shocked at this news.

"What?!" Thunderbolt shouted in fear.

Patch's siblings then started to make protests on Patch's decision.

"Patch, no! You can't quit!"

"Thunderbolt's your best friend, Patch, and he needs you as much as you need him!"

"You're giving up your dreams, Patch! Don't do this!"

"You're not gonna let what those other dogs say get to you, are you, Patch?"

After hearing the last thing said to him by one of his siblings, Patch looked down at the ground miserably.

"There's nothing that any of you can say or do to change my mind," said Patch sadly. "Those dogs are right. I couldn't save myself from the falling bridge. I can't even do Thunderbolt's bark right. Ever since we met Amber, my voice started to get worse when I tried to get it right for Thunderbolt's bark. Maybe I should give up."

"No, Patch, please!" Thunderbolt pleaded. "You'll always have me help you. And if you quit, you might get replaced by another dog. Or worse, our show might get cancelled after only one episode. And I don't want any of that to happen. We're friends, and friends always do things together. Please, don't leave me."

Patch still remembered the fact that pups do not have the voice to do Thunderbolt's heroic bark, so he began to take it very seriously and came up with another shocking piece of news for his family and Thunderbolt.

"I won't leave you for good, Thunder," said Patch. "I'll come back to work with you again when I become a big dog. That way, I'll have a voice that's just as good as yours, and no one will laugh at me when I do your bark by then."

Thunderbolt shook his head, not accepting to wait until Patch would become an adult dog for their careers to continue.

"Waiting until you become a big dog is not a good idea, Patch," said Thunderbolt. "We need each other, now. We need to do our show together. Our show is very important to us. It's very important to you. It helps you a lot in becoming a better hero in real life."

Patch did not want to hurt Thunderbolt's feelings, but he did not want to be ridiculed by all the dogs in London again. He had been thinking about what was best for himself and not both him and Thunderbolt, and thinking about his friendship with him was not easy for him to do while he was under so much pressure.

"I know how important our show is," said Patch, his voice getting even weaker. "But I am fed up with all those dogs laughing at me when I try my hardest to succeed. I have to avoid them. I don't ever want to face them again. I know how much you need me, and I know how much I need you, but I'm afraid I have no choice."

Thunderbolt felt hurt. Patch's family looked very upset with Patch for what he just did to Thunderbolt. There was nothing else Patch could do, though. He wanted to avoid the dogs that have been laughing at him since the rescue from the dognapper; so his mind was made up, and there was nothing that his family or Thunderbolt could do to change it.

"Pongo, Perdy, get the pups ready!" Roger called. "We're going home!"

The Dalmatian family gloomily walked back to their owners, with Patch right behind his entire family. Patch stopped for a moment and turned his head to look back at Thunderbolt one more time.

"Goodbye, Thunderbolt," said Patch, feeling more guilty and downhearted at the same time. "I guess you won't be seeing me again for a long time."

Thunderbolt shedded a tear, showing emotional pain as he watched Patch leave London with his family.

***

End of chapter four.