A few days later, Chowder had been on his best behavior. Everybody was surprised at how willing he was to go to bed at night or bathe, but nobody questioned it. They had no idea that their innocent apprentice had discovered something big.

One day there was a knock at the door. It was none other than Gazpacho.

"Hey there Gazpacho. You got my fruit?"

"Boy have I. I just got a new shipment of Rantalope, so I tossed one in there for ya."

"Oooh, thank you. Those'll go great in my Cynicycles."

"Diiid someone say Cynicycles?" Chowder asked, sliding in. "Oh hey Gazpacho!"

"Heya Chowder. Where ya been?"

"Mung and Truffles are keeping me here so I don't get into trouble because-"

Mung interupted. "BECAUSE..because, you know Gazpacho. It's that time of his life."
"Oh, I know what you mean. I remember when I was at that time. Mother always kept telling me, "Gazpacho! Quit eating all of those melons..you'll make your rash worse!"

Mung and Chowder stared quizzically. "Uhm..no. Not that. I'm talking about that time. Uperty Pay?"

"Wha?"

"You know, the birds and the bees?"

"Hey! Truffles told me about that a few days ago! At first I thought-"

"THAT'S..quite enough Chowder. Do me a favor and..go sweep out the giant food processor or something."

"Okay! Nice see'n ya Gazpacho!" Chowder waved then headed off to complete his duty.

"So." Gazpacho started, "It's that time, huh?" he asked, leaning against the door frame.

"Yeah..he's been doing a lot better then some of my past apprentices."

"Well he can't get into too much if he's here all of the time. You know, I haven't seen Panini around either."

"That figures." Mung Daal crossed his arms. "I haven't seen many apprentices around at all. It's no mystery why..but if I catch Chowder with that womens apprentice, I'll..I'LL!-"

"Whooa hoho, calm down there." Gazpacho stood up. "Don't worry. Everybody is being confined in their homes. He'll be just fine. Well. I gotta head back before I'm robbed blind again."

"Allright. See you around."

Mung Daal shut the door and turned with a sigh. "Just a few more weeks..."

-At Miss Endives Mansion or whatever it is.

Panini was in her room lying on her back on the carpet. "I can't take this anymore! I can't just do it myself! That's not enough!" she groaned and curled into the fetal position, frustrated. She lay there for about twenty minutes, then sat up. "I know what I have to do..it's risky..and Miss Endive's going to be really mad..but I have to! I'm gonna go nuts if I don't!"

Panini climbed to her feet to zip over to her closet. She entered, sorting through racks of clothing, most of which the same exact thing until she found what she was looking for.

"Perfect!"

-At that..thing Chowder lives in.

Chowder finished putting his plate away in the sink then headed up to his room.

"Off to bed!" He called.

When he reached his room, Kim Chi was already fast asleep in his enclosure. Chowder sighed. "Hm..should I do it myself? It feels good, but..it always feels like I'm not doing something all of the way.." Chowder looked around for any ideas as to what it was he was missing, but he couldn't come up with anything.

He sighed. "Oh well..I'll do it anyway. I don't want to have to wash another set of blankets.." As he headed towards the bathroom, something skittered across his floor.

"Huh? What was that?" Chowder went over to investigate. "What? It's a little rock. A little heart shaped rock!" He stopped. "This could only mean one thing!" he immidiatly tossed the rock into his mouth. "Blagh! Okay, maybe not." he spat it out then went over to the window to yell at who ever tricked him with candy like pieces of rock. When he got to his window, he stopped, mouth agape. It was Panini.

"Panini?"
"Shhh! Nobody knows I'm here!"

"Why ARE you here?"

"Because my love!" She began, hands clasped together. "I couldn't stand not having you!"

"I mean other than usual."

She clicked her tongue, hands on her hips. "I'm coming up!"

"Nono! Don't do that! Mung has the walk booby-trapped!" Chowder then pointed at the large boulder planted precariously on the walk a little ways up.

"How did I miss that?" She asked.

"I'm coming down!" he called out.

"But how? You'll get squished!"

" I have an idea!"