Chapter 1: When it Rains

Although it was only about half an hour after sunset, the sky was cloaked in darkness. The rainfall was so immense that not even the streetlights were aid enough to travel on the slippery roads. The only things that could be seen were the pounding raindrops and the threatening flashes of lightning.

By this point, the Air Patroller had been grounded in a small field behind the Cape Catfish Elementary School. Ryder and the PAW Patrol had stretched their luck to the very last minute before finally finding a safe place to land. With this much rain, there was no way Chase or any of the pups could pick up a scent. And, it was definitely too dangerous to continue searching by jetpack let alone spy drone. Now what? Thought Ryder as he and the pups sat in a tense silence while the rain hammered the outer shell of the aircraft, their only shelter. In a flash, they had lost a member of their team and a very good friend. The little evidence they had to their disappearance pointed only to an act of pupnapping. Who knew where the pups were taken and by whom they were taken?

"Why does this kind of thing always happen when it's raining out?" muttered Rubble, breaking the wordless streak that had been taking place. Everyone was just so surprised and troubled about what had just occurred that each didn't have the capacity to express themselves. Only moments before, the pups had spent a wonderful time at the beach and had been enjoying the sunset together with their friend Amber's family and neighbors. Now Amber and Marshall were gone and they were stuck in a mini jet with state of the art equipment and seemingly no way of using it.

"Yeah, I guess it kind of happens that way, huh?" Ryder said after pondering over Rubble's comment. Everyone gave a gasp as another heart-stopping crash of thunder shook the Air Patroller.

"You'd have to be crazy to be out in this storm," Chase said getting ahold of his bearings again.

"You've got that right," agreed Rocky who, despite his fear of getting wet, had stayed out as long as all the other pups searching for their friends. He was still trying to dry the water from his fur.

"Yeah… Wait a minute… That's exactly right!" Ryder exclaimed receiving confused looks from everyone.

"What do you mean, Ryder, Sir?" asked Chase.

"Well, we can almost be sure that whoever has Marshall and Amber isn't out on the streets anymore. They must have gone somewhere to take cover. So, from the time I spoke to Marshall to the time we had to land the Air Patroller doesn't give their pupnapper much of a chance to get very far…" said Ryder putting his mind to work.

"So, we know they'wre close by, then. Wright Wryder?" Zuma added, catching on to what Ryder was saying.

"Right," he replied.

"But, how does that help us find them?" asked Skye not sure how far this line of thinking was going to take them.

"Well… the storm not only stopped them from getting far. It also kept some people from going anywhere at all. It did catch us by surprise by getting here earlier than we expected, but I'm sure, that just like us, whoever was out, or thinking of going out for that matter, made sure to clear the streets before it hit…" Ryder continued to think aloud.

"Yeah? And? Keep going Ryder," urged Everest anxious to see where he was going with this.

"And… although there aren't any security cameras near the beach parking lot, there are bound to be some by the shops… They must have caught any moving thing that passed by from the time I checked in with the pups to the time we arrived to find them missing… And, because not many people were out at that time anymore, that definitely will narrow our possible suspects."

"All we have to do is get a hold of the surveillance videos and see who comes up. Then, as soon as the rain slows down, we can go out and search!" Chase concluded determinedly.

"Exactly," Ryder said with mirrored determination. "Now, the only thing is that Cape Catfish isn't like Adventure Bay. They have an actual, human run police force. So, they might suggest they take over the search and we stay out of it."

"But, we have to help," insisted Skye. "They're our friends."

"I know, but they aren't used to have a kid and pups do this kind of work like the people in Adventure Bay are. They might have heard of us, but we have to be understanding and step aside if they feel it might be too dangerous," Ryder tried to explain.

"But, Ryder, what happened to 'no job is too big, no pup is too small?'" implored Rocky.

Ryder was silent for a moment, his contemplation only interrupted by another boom of thunder. "I know that we believe that pups, but they might not. We just have to call and see what happens from there." Although the pups were still under the assumption that there was still a chance for them to help search for Amber and Marshall, Ryder wasn't too sure anymore. He pulled out his pup to call the police department. His spirits already at unease, Ryder flinched as thunder boomed once more.

Shuttering to that same booming thunder, Amber sat stiff as a board inside the small crate in the trunk of the pupnapper's car. She couldn't see him, but Marshall still lay lifeless in a crumpled heap adjacent to the crate. Amber could only hear his slow breathing and her own small tense breaths. The sound of raindrops had stopped clanging on the car and so had the roar of the engine ceased. She knew that it was still storming, though, because the torrent could still be heard somewhere in the distance only muffled. She desperately wished the thunder could be muffled too. Although she couldn't find it in herself to move a muscle, her body still trembled like a leaf, probably much like many of the leaves that were being jostled by the harsh wind. Any moment, the two men who had trapped them in that trunk would come and take them out. Amber did not want to think about what they would do next.

"Mmm…" Marshall moaned rolled his body over a little so that he faced Amber's direction. Amber gave a gasp. Marshall's bright blue eyes widened in the dark as he yelled out, "Amber!"

"I-I'm here Marshall," she answered letting relief that he was alive over power the terror she was feeling.

"Ow… W-what happened?... Did they get us?..." he asked in a pain-stricken voice while he rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah… We're in the trunk of their car right now. We've been parked for a little while-" Suddenly the hatch of the trunk unlatched startling both Amber and Marshall who was still recovering from his stupor.

"Hurry up and put the collar and leash on the Dalmatian," Demanded one voice. Amber guessed it was the voice of the man who had first confronted them at the beach. Not much could be seen. There was only a dim light coming from above somewhere showing only the two ominous silhouettes of the men. The sound of water could be heard a short distance away as if they were only under some sort of large covering that did not shield out the rain completely. Before anything else could be known, Marshall was leashed and carried out of the car. Amber felt so helpless. Marshall struggled and managed to wriggle his way out of the man's arms, but this only managed to get him dragged away by the leash.

"And now you, little pup," the same man said to Amber in a semisweet tone as he lifted the crate out of the trunk. He made sure to lock the car before following the other man, crate in arm. Marshall stopped resisting, seeing that he was not stronger than the man on the other end of his leash. Instead, he glanced around to learn more about where they were. He managed to notice that they were on the second floor of a pretty full parking garage, but that was all he could figure out before their two captors entered a nearby elevator with Amber and himself. By the looks of it, wherever they were was a newer place, a thought that was soon confirmed when the elevator let them out on the fifth floor.

The hallway they came out on was carpeted and fancy lamps hung on the walls along the length of the passage. The doors were made of a dark wood and the carpet was designed with different shades of blue, brown, and gold. The air smelled clean with a hint of that wood smell that Marshall thought Rubble would have liked. Amber had been as brave as she could thus far, but at this point, she could no longer hold back her whimpers.

"I'll be having no noise out of you," said the man carrying her crate in a harsh whisper. With that command, he shook the cage a bit. This hushed Amber immediately. Marshall, who was about to say something was quickly quieted by a stern look from the same man.

At the end of the hall, the men finally stopped in front of the door with a large golden number 524 nailed to it. The man holding Marshall's leash pulled out a key and unlocked the door. Once inside he flipped on the lights and quickly shut the door behind the man with Amber's crate.

They looked to be in a moderately sized apartment. To the right of the door was an entrance to a kitchen, and from what Marshall could see, all the appliances were shiny and new. They walked passed the kitchen into an open dining room that was connected to the living room. Just like everything else, the furniture was in very good condition. The apartment was nearly spotless, a very odd place for two thieves to be living in. Only a couple of pictures hung on the cream-colored walls. Both were quite large, with one being of a magnificent waterfall amongst rocky ridges and vivid green trees, and the other was of glorious sunset behind deep purple mountains.

"Well done pups. You've managed to keep yourselves on our good side for now," said the tall man who had put Amber's crate down in the middle of the living room floor. "Let's hope we keep it that way, hmm?"

"W-what are you going t-to do with us?" quivered Marshall.

"Like I said, you're going to help me with something," the man said leaning toward Marshall with his hands on his knees. "Now, I need you to be good little doggies while my friend and I make a call in the other room. And, to make sure of that, I'm just going to have you share this here crate with your little golden girl."

The taller man straighten up while the other unlocked the barred door and pushed Marshall in, leash and all. The two then walked through a door that stood across from the kitchen. Marshall assumed it to be some type of study because he saw a bookshelf peeking out before the door was closed.

"What are we going to do, Marshall?" whispered Amber after gathering the courage to speak again.

"We've got to get out of here," he said looking toward the entrance of the apartment.

"How?" Amber asked doubting they could even find a way to get out of the crate. They were silent for a moment. They could hear some muffled talking with some words being more audible than others, but the men were too far away and wall and door were too thick for even their sensitive hearing to penetrate.

"I'm not sure yet. We don't even know where we are… If only we could find a way to contact Ryder…" Marshall looked around. There was no landline in sight. These guys were really living the high-tech life. Maybe they could somehow get a hold of one of their phones. They were also bound to have a computer or similar device in that office. Or, if they ever made it out, they could find someone who could help them.

"Marshall? What do you think they're going to do to us?" whimpered Amber softly.

"I… I don't-" he was cut off by the sound of the two men emerging from their private phone conference.

"Good news my little helpers, we've got a job for you early tomorrow morning," said the taller man with a wide grin on his face.

"What do you mean?" asked Marshall.

"Oh, you'll see. No use worrying about it. I need you well rested and ready to work. Mike, why don't we move the crate into the corner between the couch and the window over there." The shorter man moved aside a side table that was occupying that spot. Then the two men lifted the crate and placed it there. The metal cage fit snuggly in the corner. "And just in case your smarter than you look, we'll just push this table right here… There we go. Have a good night my prized pups."

The taller man had placed the table in front of the only open side of the crate and walked away chuckling to himself. Now each side of the crate was blocked by something. What could the pups possibly do now? The two pups stared at each other and then through the bars at the top of the crate. Suddenly the shorter man reappeared holding a thick blue towel.

"It can get kinda cold here at night," was all he whispered and spread the towel over the top of the cage. It seemed like he was doing this hidden from the other man, because he didn't try to open the cage and put the towel inside. Using the towel for a blanket would have made much more sense. He seemed a tad nervous, however, as if out of fear of his partner noticing. His deed did not go unseen, unfortunately. He turned with a start when the taller man tapped him on the shoulder.

"Why, may I ask, are you putting that towel on top of that crate, Mike?" he articulated staring coldly into Mike's eyes. "We can't be having the little beasts chewing it up."

"Uh… I, um, was just using it as some sort of sound barrier, you know, so it won't be so loud if they start whining or something…"

"I see… Well, as long as it's one of your towels, I guess it's a good idea," the taller man said pointedly.

"It is," Mike answered quickly. Then forcing a yawn he added, "I'm going to hit the hay. See you in the mornin' Trevor."

"Yeah… see ya in the morning," returned Trevor as he walked over to a far wall and shut off all the lights but the one by the front door. The two men walked into their respective rooms and shut the door. The pups felt slightly relieved to not have the men looming over them anymore.

"That was pretty kind of that Mike guy, huh?" commented Amber quietly.

"Yeah, it seemed like he was actually trying to be nice," Marshall conjectured.

"But then, he lied to his friend about helping us stay warm. I wonder why he did that."

"I'm not sure, but we should still be careful with him. He could still be a bad guy."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm so nervous about the 'work' we're going to be doing tomorrow that I don't know if I can even fall asleep."

"Me too… but at least we can't hear the storm that much anymore…"

"Hey, you're right. We're right next to a window, but the walls and glass in this place must be so sturdy that sound doesn't really come though too loudly," Amber said turning her head to listen to the faint tapping of rain.

"Yeah," agreed Marshall. The two pups yawned although their eyes were not even the slightest bit droopy. Adrenaline still lingered in their veins.

"I... guess, if there's nothing we can do, we should at least try to get a little sleep…"

"Yeah, there's no use in being tired when we try to escape tomorrow, huh?"

The two pups settled as best they could in the small crate. The towel did help to keep it not so cold. With a miniscule click, the light in the front hall turned off on its own. Both pups were caught off guard by this. It wasn't very easy to fall asleep in a dark, unfamiliar place where people lived who didn't seem to care about them. Marshall and Amber sighed and murmured in unison, "I wish I had my bear."

They didn't mean for the other to hear, but the coincidence was too funny for Amber not to comment. "You sleep with a teddy bear too?"

"Yeah," giggled Marshall nervously. He didn't know, at first, why he felt so embarrassed. All the other pups knew, and he had assumed that Amber knew too since they had all been sleeping in the same room. He guessed that since Amber was a newer friend and younger than him, it kind of seemed silly for him sleep with a stuffed animal. What was he going to say now to the pup who thought he was some brave hero pup? "… I sleep with it all the time. You don't think I'm silly, do you?"

"It kinda makes me glad. I thought for a while that maybe I was getting too old for teddy bears. Well, that is, until that first night at the Lookout when Zuma woke me up from a nightmare and told me that he slept with a toy when he had rough nights; but that's only sometimes. I really love Little Blue and sleep with her almost every night even if I don't have a nightmare. I was starting to feel embarrassed again, because I didn't want to look like a baby. But, now that I know another older pup that thinks it's okay, I don't feel as nervous about it."

"Yeah, I guess I didn't really think about it that much. I'm glad you don't feel embarrassed about it. And I'm glad you don't think I'm silly either. It's nice to have something like a bear to hug. It kind of makes you feel safe and happy," Marshall said smiling for the first time since the beach.

"Exactly," said Amber smiling too. She gave a big yawn.

"Well, we may not have our bears to keep us safe, but at least we're not alone. And tomorrow we will be back together with them and our friends," Marshall said yearning to yawn himself.

"Yeah," agreed Amber hopefully resting her head on her paws and slowly closing her eyes. "Good night, Marshall."

"Good night," Marshall said curling up and shutting his eyes as well. In the stillness, the two pups could just pick up the soft rumble of some far off thunder.

Ryder put the pup pad down in his lap and stared out the window of the Air Patroller.

"What did they say, Ryder?" asked Chase tentatively. He could tell the expression on Ryder's face was frustrated at best.

Ryder took a deep breath before answering. "They said they would add Marshall and Amber to the list of missing pups in Cape Catfish and check in with us if they hear anything."

"That's it? So are they going to search for them as soon as the rain stops?" asked Chase deeply concerned for his friends.

"I don't think so. They said they had a very long list of pups that are reported missing and they have to give priority to the ones that are at the top of the list because they have been missing longer. Oddly enough, they told me that, just like Marshall and Amber, most of the pups on the list were victims of pupnapping making them more urgent than if they were just runaways. The best they could do for us was hang up some flyers…"

"More flyers? We have to find them right now! We can't wait for them to get taken where we won't be able to find them, or get hurt… or worse…" an aggravated knot was now gripping Chase's throat and frustrated tears were clouding his eyes. Ryder knew exactly how he felt.

"I know. We'll just have to do this without the help of the Cape Catfish Police," Ryder said hoping that his statement sounded more encouraging than he thought it did.

"So they said it was okay for the PAW Patrol to work on the case?" asked Chase turning the corners of his mouth up slightly.

"Well… they didn't seem to convinced about it, but I assured them that we were very qualified and gave them Mayor Goodway's contact information if they had any questions…"

"And they believed you then, right?" chimed in Rubble who was now listening in with all the other pups.

"Kind of… they said they would call her later. They at least knew a little about us from the articles on how we saved Amber."

"So we can go out and search as soon as the rain slows down just like we planned," said Skye eagerly.

"Not exactly," Ryder said standing up to face all the wide-eyed pups. "We only have permission to work during the day. Because our team is made up of such… young members, including myself, we need to follow the curfew and-"

"Curfew? But, our friends could be in trouble this very moment!" insisted Rocky.

"I know, but we can't argue with the police. They are the protectors of this city and if we want to have any chance at all of finding Amber and Marshall we need to make sure we don't do anything that would keep us from giving this our all. That includes staying up past curfew."

The pups bowed their heads in understanding, but they weren't happy with the decision. Even Chase, who knew perfectly well about upholding the law wore a sour expression. He wanted, more than anything, to stay up as long as it took to find his friends even if his eyes burned and his muscles ached.

A little while later, the clouds seemed to be running low on juice and the massive waterfall that had been rushing down earlier turned into a gentle summer shower. Ryder had Robo-Dog fly the Air Patroller back to the empty lot by Mr. Sabello's house. Everyone was silent for the ride there and even as they walked up the driveway and to Mr. Sabello's front door. The old man opened the door as soon as he saw Ryder and the team arrive.

"Any luck my boy?" he asked in anticipation.

"No," Ryder sighed. "I can tell you all about it if you would allow us inside."

"Of course, of course, come in," he said opening the door wider to let them in.

Rachel and Blizzard were there along with Amber's mom and sisters who were going to be spending the night.

"Anything, Ryder?" asked Glimmer.

"Not yet," he said. "Apparently, there have been a lot of pupnappings and that has the police very busy. We've been given special permission to search for the pups ourselves but we can't start until tomorrow morning."

"Oh no," gasped Gemma and Goldie at the same time.

"Don't worry. After a good night's sleep, the pups and I will be ready to go before the sun even rises. I think we have a way of finding out who might have pupnapped them," Ryder said determinedly.

"That's wonderful," said Rachel clasping her hands. "Well, if you can't work until morning, why don't we settle down for the night. Maybe we'll come up with more ideas while we sleep. Ryder? Since there are so many of us, why don't you sleep here with the girls and Blizzard and I will have the boys sleep at our place."

"Well…" thought Ryder.

"Please, Ryder," pleaded Blizzard. Despite the desperateness of the situation that was going on concerning Amber and Marshall, Blizzard couldn't resist even being to some extent excited about having members of the PAW Patrol sleeping at his house.

"It's fine with me," he answered with a small smile in Blizzard's direction. "We don't want to crowd your house with pups, Mr. Sabello. Rubble, Zuma, Chase, and Rocky, you can go over to sleep at Rachel's house. Just remember, we are getting up early to restart the search. Skye and Everest, you two stay here with me."

"You got it, Ryder, Sir," Chase responded maturely.

The pups split up and helped lay out some of the beach towels they had used earlier that day as makeshift beds. Eventually after restless tossing and turning of bodies and thoughts, there was only the sound of soft, relaxed breathing coming from within the two houses.