The Teamwork Challenge badge was one of the most difficult badges to attain as a Junior Woodchuck. Last year only two Woodchucks received it and Della was determined to get hers this year. The challenge itself was random, the Senior Woodchuck spun a giant wheel (in the old days they'd taken a piece of paper from a hat, but somewhere down the line the giant wheel had seemed like a more exciting idea) to determine what challenge the participants would attempt. They were expected to work in pairs, agreeing the roles between themselves and keeping their group (the two Woodchucks, and two additional friends or family members) safe for 24 hours, or until they completed the task. Fethry had already contacted her, wanting to attempt the challenge himself and struggling to get anyone else to help him, so even though they were in different troops they had been given permission to work together.
Fethry came to stay at the mansion before the challenge, happy to see that Della had already started planning for every possible scenario. There were pieces of paper stuck to the wall with different headers, and underneath bullet points of notes. Donald, who was no longer a Junior Woodchuck, hid in his room.
"If we get the river challenge we'll need fishing gear and sunscreen," Della told Fethry, pointing at a piece of paper. "The con's will be getting fresh water and navigating the raft to the final destination."
"What about the nature hunt one?"
"I love scavenger hunts, but we'll need the right containers for the samples we collect and we won't know what's on the list until we leave."
"So we'll take some and if necessary we can make some, I know how to weave small baskets out of long grass and we can find vines to tie the lids down."
"Excellent!"
The next morning, at the Woodchuck meeting, as Della's troop leader spun the giant task wheel she nodded confidently at Fethry. When the wheel stopped and their challenge was read out she smiled. Part of her had hoped for the science challenge, but Fethry had an affinity with animals and he'd be the perfect partner to help her earn her badge. The troop leader went over the requirements with them at the end of the meeting, and they handed over the permission slips for themselves and the other team members, confirming that they were ready to start.
Donald was waiting in the car, Della had bribed him to get him to come though she knew he would have worried if he'd had to stay at the mansion while she was out here.
"Ready to go, cousin Donald?" Fethry asked, tapping on the window.
Donald climbed out of the car with a sigh, "so what's the plan?"
"Camping in the wood for twenty-four hours, studying wildlife and collecting samples of as many items on the list as possible. We need at least twenty-four items on the list to pass."
"And what do I have to do?"
"Stay alive," Della told him with a grin. "Fethry and I will get the plant samples, document animal tracks and all that sort of thing."
"Good," Donald grabbed his bag and his guitar, "let's get it over with then."
Della and Fethry look around, waiting for the fourth team member. It suddenly occurred to Della that they hadn't warned Donald who that fourth person would be.
Four identical tents were set around a perfectly planned camp fire, though not all equally neatly. Della had tried to help Donald set up his tent but they'd fought over where to place it, then Donald had fallen onto Fethry whose hammer had hit Gladstone's tent peg as a gust of wind picked up the tent setting it up perfectly. Donald had grabbed his tent from Della and moved it away from Gladstone's and attempted to set it up himself. Reflecting on the sad-looking tent, Della figured if it collapsed in the middle of a storm Donald could share with someone else.
Gladstone was leaning against a large log which they'd dragged to their fire pit, looking as calm as if he was sitting in Scrooge's mansion. Fethry was off with Donald, trying to get a head start on their task down at the river.
"Hey Gladdy, you're in charge of the food so take a look through the supplies and see what you want to cook if the others don't catch any fish," Della called over to her cousin. "I'm off to get more wood for the fire."
Donald's guitar lay against a log near the fire pit, Della wondered whether it was safe there but she knew if she moved it Donald would just get angry. Shaking her head, she wandered off into the trees looking for fallen, dry twigs.
With night fallen and the fire lit, the four cousins sat eating their dinner. Della had hoped for fresh fish, but Donald had knocked the ones Fethry had caught back into the river before falling into the water himself. The two cousins had returned to the camp empty handed, so Donald could change into dry clothes. Luckily Fethry and Della had brought plenty of canned food and it hadn't taken long to cook.
"We should sing some campfire songs," Fethry suggested as he placed his empty plate on the ground.
"Don't know any," Gladstone told him, not looking too bothered by the fact.
"Come on Donald, why don't you play something and Della and I can teach Gladstone the words?"
Donald didn't need to be asked twice. Even though he hadn't finished his dinner, he happily put down his plate and picked up his guitar.
Long after Della and Fethry had grown tired of singing, Donald continued to play. When the others started getting ready to go to bed, he reluctantly stopped. Gladstone passed him on the way to his tent, plucking a twenty dollar bill out of the air.
"Still the luckiest duck, even in the middle of nowhere," Gladstone boasted.
"There's nowhere to spend it," Donald pointed out.
"Oh I'm sure something will turn up, maybe in the morning we'll find an ice cream truck which got lost in the woods. Then I can treat us all to ice cream."
Donald shook his head, carrying his guitar into his tent.
Fethry was the first to wake, so he was toasting some bread near the fire when Della joined him.
"We should split up to complete the list," she suggested. "Meet back here at midday for lunch and to compare how we're getting on."
"Good plan, I'll take Donald and you can have Gladstone."
"Okay, but that means I'm going after the the bell flower. It only grows high up and I'd rather take Gladstone than Donald," Della sat next to him, dividing the list as fairly as possible.
Fethry looked up to his older cousins, he knew they had so much more experience in the world than him and he'd seen the way Donald always tried to take care of Della. It didn't matter that they fought a lot, when it came down to the crunch Donald was always there for his sister so Fethry always tried to find excuses to spend time with Donald wanting to grow up and be just like him.
They needed to collect some wild berries, sketch accurate animal imprints (to size, and labelled with the correct species), and find leaves from three types of trees. Fethry had his containers and was leading Donald deeper into the woods when they heard a growl. Donald kept walking, but Fethry placed a hand on his arm to stop him and signalled to him to wait while he went ahead to take a look.
There was a bear ahead, lying on the ground. It growled again. Fethry repeated the Woodchuck Rule for dealing with bears in his head, and then looked again at the bear. It looked so sad, he wondered whether it was injured. He was about to take a step forward when Donald grabbed the back of his sweater and pulled him away. Donald motioned for Fethry to follow him back they way they'd come and once he felt they were far enough away, kept his voice to a whisper.
"What were you doing?"
"What do you mean?"
"You were going to walk towards the bear!"
"I thought it might be hurt."
"And you were what... going to offer to bandage it's paw?"
"I'm fully trained in first aid."
"We've gotta get out of here," Donald told him. "What if it finds our camp, or the others?"
"We've only got a few hours before the Challenge is over, as long as we stay away from that part of the forest we'll be fine. We should head back now, make sure the food is out of reach and the samples we collected yesterday are safe."
"What about Della and Gladstone?"
"They went in the other direction, we can go that way to collect samples and warn them."
"We should tell them now! I can't believe we were left on our own out here when there are wild bears in the woods."
"Actually this area should be safe, I'm not sure how the bear got into this part of the woods. The Troop Leader notified the rangers who patrol here that we were coming, and they would have warned us if they'd known."
"What if there are more bears?"
"That one was highly unlikely, the odds on there being more..."
"We're going to find Della and Gladstone, then we need to leave."
"But our badges..."
"You won't get badges if you die out here."
Fethry looked disappointed.
"Fine," Donald sighed, "if you see something on the way to the others, you can collect quickly."
Fethry smiled, "of course."
He picked up his pace, looking around and hoping to spot something on their list.
Della leaned over the edge of the ridge, trusting Gladstone to pull her back once she'd gathered the flower. Her fingers curled around the stem and she plucked the flower, calling to Gladstone to let him know they'd gotten it.
"That's us nearly finished," she told him with a smile. "Two more items and we can head back. I hope Donald and Fethry have been this lucky."
"Well they didn't have me along, so probably not," he told her.
Della looked at her list, "I don't suppose you can see any of these feathers around here?"
"No, but I think I see Donald."
"Don't be silly, they're hunting miles from here."
Gladstone lowered his binoculars and passed them to Della, so she could look for herself. Peering into them, she recognised Donald's bright blue jumper and Fethry's red hat as they ran up the hill.
"What are they doing here?" she asked. "I hope they're not in trouble."
Della and Gladstone began heading down the hill and a few minutes later Donald and Fethry reached them. The cousins were a little out of breath and it took a moment before they could speak and be understood.
"Bears in the woods," Donald finally told them.
"That's ridiculous," Della replied. "These woods are safe, that's why the Woodchucks use them. The bears only come here just before winter if their food in the other parts of their territories are low and we keep away."
"Well there's one there now," Fethry confirmed. "We saw it."
"Fethry wanted to take it home for a pet."
"I did not, I was just worried about it."
"Worry about us," Donald told him, before turning back to Della. "We need to leave. Now."
"But the..."
"If you say 'badges', I'll tell Uncle Scrooge that being a Woodchuck is too dangerous because it makes you forget basic common sense," Donald threatened.
Della folded her arms, "being a Woodchuck gives us valuable life skills."
"Then take this as another lesson and don't run towards danger. We can come back next week to re-take the Challenge. I'm sure your Troop Leader will understand and if he doesn't Uncle Scrooge will speak to him until he does."
Della sighed, "fine."
As they followed Donald down the hill, Della and Fethry compared notes on what they'd found. Gladstone walked next to Donald, hoping someone would find them and drive them back to the Woodchuck building at the edge of the woods, he wasn't used to walking so far.
They reached the camp and stared in dismay at the mess. The tents had been torn down and their belongings were tossed around. Donald ran ahead, looking for his guitar.
"I put our samples up with the food," Fethry reassured Della, "so they'll be safe."
Donald was frantically lifting clothes as he moved around the camp, "it's not here!"
"Uncle Scrooge can buy you a new one," Della told him. "I thought you said we had to leave."
"But it's got my songbook inside, with lyrics for all the songs I've written."
"We'll come back once the rangers say it's safe."
Donald dropped the yellow t-shirt he was holding, knowing she was right, "okay."
Della and Fethry gathered their samples, but they all agreed to leave the rest of their belongings. It took them nearly an hour to get to the Woodchuck building. The Troop Leader was inside, not expecting them so soon.
"You were supposed to stay in the woods for the full 24 hours," he reminded them. "I'm sorry, but this means..."
"We saw a bear!" Fethry told him.
"Here's what we gathered before we left," Della placed the containers on the floor. "It's probably not enough, but we tried."
"I'd better call the rangers, can you describe the bear? The more information they have on size etc, makes it easier when they track it down."
Fethry went with the Troop Leader, eagerly describing the bear down to the pitch of it's growl. Donald went to stand next to Della.
"I'm sorry you won't get your badges today."
Della shrugged, "maybe he'll give us the Failure badge. I've heard that's a thing and I've never earnt one before."
"I'm surprised they didn't give me one before I left."
"You were kicked out."
"I chose to leave," he corrected her.
Della smiled, "do you mind coming back and trying this again with us? Though they might re-spin and we could end up with a completely different Challenge."
"For you and Fethry? Sure," Donald lowered his voice, "but are you sure you want to bring Gladstone? Clearly he's not very lucky if we had to abandon the Challenge."
Della looked over at their cousin, who had just found a twenty dollar bill that had flown in through an open window.
"His luck still works for him," she pointed out.
They waited in the Woodchuck building for Uncle Scrooge to collect them. The rangers came to get an in-person report from the boys about the location where they'd seen the bear. While they waited, Fethry and Della sorted through their nature samples.
"We were one short of the minimum," she told Donald when they'd finished.
"We'll get everything next time," he promised her.
The Troop Leader came in, "your uncle has arrived."
The kids stood up and walked towards the exit. Before they reached the door, the Troop Leader called out for them to wait a moment. He rushed towards them, and plucked a feather from the back of Gladstone's jacket.
"Where did you find this?" he asked.
Gladstone looked around confused, "somewhere in the woods I guess. What is it?"
"Oh wow, is that what I think it is?" Fethry asked, moving for a closer look.
"It's too big to be a white-tailed eagle feather," Della told them.
"Exactly and there's only one creature which appears in the journal of Isabella Finch with white feathers this size," the Troop Leader reminded them.
"A griffin!" Della jumped with joy, "we have to go back and find it!"
Donald grabbed her arm, "there's a bear, remember?"
"But a griffin! That would mean..."
"Unless it's in danger from the bear, it'll still be there next week."
"Don't be silly, the griffin would win a fight with a bear easily," Fethry told him.
Donald just ignored him, looking at Della, "once the rangers confirm the bear has moved on, we'll go looking for the griffin."
"What's a griffin?" Gladstone asked.
Fethry started to explain. The more details he gave, the more Donald wondered whether it was a good idea to try and find the creature.
"It sounds kind of dangerous," he said. "Perhaps we shouldn't look for it after all."
Della frowned, "but you just said..."
"I thought it was just some kind of large bird, I didn't realise it was a monster."
Della shared a look with Fethry. If Donald wouldn't come back with them, they'd go off alone. Perhaps she could persuade Uncle Scrooge to go with them. Smiling at the Troop Leader, Della said goodbye and headed for the exit.
"What about your badges?" he asked before she could open the door.
"We failed," Fethry pointed out.
"You won't get your Challenge badges, but there are others I think you've qualified for."
So Della and Fethry ended up with two new badges each. Donald was still upset over the lost guitar, and he wondered whether it was the bear which had attacked their camp or the griffin. Perhaps he would come back and try to track it down on his own. He didn't want to put Della in danger, but he thought he could manage to find it, and maybe if he brought Gladstone along his luck would help them find it.
The End.
AN: Slightly rushed, to get it finished and posted today, for the prompt deadline. I planned on having Donald saving Fethry from the bear (he was really going to be trying to protect his guitar from the bear, and Fethry would have gotten in the way), then have the samples damaged so when they return and have to present everything he'd sing a song about the to the Troop Leader and win them the badges (because the Troop Leader can't understand what he says). Might have to revisit this one day and add in some extra scenes, they didn't really get to interact with each other much and I'm not sure it's clear that they're supposed to be young. Oh well, still need to finish tomorrows story...
Also, I know Della has an aversion to fish but I don't know when that started so as they're supposed to be young in this story I'm going with the idea that whatever happened to make her dislike them hasn't occurred yet in their lives.