"…and this here is Keyon. He's one of our more popular animals."

"Hmm. Does that mean he gets some sort of… special treatment?"

We got back to Keyon's habitat just as Mrs. Chang was making introductions. Sparkletooth seemed to be keeping his cool, but Mrs. Chang looked like she was ready to blow a gasket. This is not gonna be pretty, but it has to be done. Sid and I ran up, flagging her down.

"Mom! Hey, Mom!" Sid called out.

Everyone turned to face us. Mrs. Chang took a deep breath while Sparkletooth raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you promised they wouldn't interfere with the interview," he said plainly. "Are you trying to weasel your way out of this?"

"N-no. Of course not," said Mrs. Chang, her cheeks turning red. "I-I'm terribly sorry about this, Mr. Sparkletooth. C-can we cut, or…?"

"And hide the truth from our audience? I don't think so," Sparkletooth said with a sneer. He turned back to the camera. "You're seeing it here live, folks. Mrs. Chang has been pulling out all the stops to hide her dirty little secret, but I'll get her yet!"

That's really how he's spinning this, huh? Man, that sleaze gives me the creeps. I think it's time Sid and I put him in his place.

"Hang on there, Mr. Sparkletooth," I said. "I think you have a lot of explaining to do."

"What are you talking about, Ronnie Anne?" asked Mrs. Chang.

"Mom, he's setting you up!" Sid exclaimed, pointing at Sparkletooth. "He's trying to make you look bad!"

Sparkletooth laughed. "Aw, how precious. She doesn't know the truth either, does she, Mrs. Chang? How many people have you been hiding this from, I wonder?"

I could see Mrs. Chang's eye twitch as she gave Sparkletooth a pointed look. "For the last time, I have no idea what you're talking about," she growled through gritted teeth.

"Oh, I think you do," Sparkletooth purred back. "My sources are never wrong."

"Well, how about you tell us what your sources told you?" I asked, folding my arms.

"And why should I?" Sparkletooth scoffed. "I'm not the one hiding anything."

"Then why won't you tell us, huh?" Sid said slyly. "Wouldn't that be hiding something?"

Sparkletooth sighed. "Look, that's not how this show works. You can't just tell your audience everything; that doesn't make for a juicy story. You have to show them."

"Okay then. Show us. Right here, right now," I challenged.

Sparkletooth's camera crew looked at each other nervously. The cameraman spoke up. "Um, Mr. Sparkletooth? Should we cut, or…?"

Sparkletooth raised his hand and shook his head. "Keep it rolling. If these little gremlins are so impatient, I'll give them exactly what they want."

Oh, you sure are, buddy. You're gonna give us what we want, even if we have to drag it out of you on your own dang show. Let's dance.

Testimony: The Scoop on Mrs. Chang

"I know how much you adore Mrs. Chang, but the fact is she's not what she seems," said Sparkletooth. "She claims her animals are happy here, but our sources tell quite a different story. We set up this interview to get confirmation from Mrs. Chang herself, and so far, she's been playing dumb. But you can't pull the wool over Jim Sparkletooth's eyes. We know her secret, and we will expose her."

Well, that explained… nothing. If he's trying to prove that he has nothing to hide, why is he being so vague? Is he just trying to build suspense for his audience or something? 'Cause that's not gonna fly with us.

"You keep bringing up these sources a lot," I said. "Who are they, exactly?"

Sparkletooth scoffed. "Oh, how naïve. You think I'd just tell you? That's not what a good journalist does."

"So, a good journalist doesn't cite his sources?" asked Sid, raising an eyebrow. "Then how do we know you're not just making everything up?"

Sparkletooth sighed. "Look, my sources wished to remain anonymous. I have to respect their right to privacy, or else who knows what Mrs. Chang would do to silence them? It could get quite messy, and none of us want that."

Hmm. Well, I don't know if any of that is true or not, but if this guy feels the need to hide their identity, then whatever their accusation is has to be pretty bad. But Sparkletooth hasn't really told us what that accusation is yet, has he?

"Mrs. Chang, has Mr. Sparkletooth told you what these sources of his said about you?" I asked.

Mrs. Chang shook her head. "Not once. He's been dancing around that subject for the entire interview."

"Um, excuse me. Who's been dancing around the subject here?" Sparkletooth said accusingly. "All I've been trying to do is make you say what we already know."

"But we don't know. That's the whole point," said Sid.

Sparkletooth let out another laugh. "Oh, how quaint. I don't need a pair of brats to tell me how to do my job. This is what a truth seeker does. They dig and dig until the find the truth, and that's exactly what I've been doing."

So basically, you're gonna keep pestering Mrs. Chang like this until she says what you wanna hear. I don't know much about journalism, but I'm pretty sure that's not how it works. Nngh, what're we gonna do? If he keeps dodging our questions like this, we're not gonna get anywhere. We need to force him to give a straight answer on something, but how?

…

Hang on. I think I just got an idea.

"Well, if you can't tell us who your sources are, can you at least give us proof that they said what you said they said?" I asked.

Sparkletooth blinked. "Pardon?"

"Remember what Sid asked before? How do we know you're not making all this up if you don't cite your sources?" I said. "You gotta have some sort of printed statement from these sources, or maybe some footage of their accusation. So where is it?"

Sparkletooth's smarmy grin seemed to fade, and I could see beads of sweat forming on his brow. "Th-this is outrageous. I-I can't just show that to a couple of snot-nosed kids."

"Okay, fine. Did you show it to Mrs. Chang, at least?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't need to show anything to her! She should know all this already!"

"So, let me get this straight. Your entire claim is that Mrs. Chang is secretly evil, and your only proof of that is a statement from some guy who might not even exist. Does any of that sound like good journalism to you?"

"I, uh… D-don't tell me how to do my job, you little punk!"

For the first time since he got here, Sparkletooth just completely lost his cool. And on camera, no less! Oh man, this is so ace. But we're not done yet.

"I think it's time you stopped beating around the bush, Sparkletooth," I said. "First of all, does this source of yours even exist?"

"O-of course it does! I wouldn't just make this up!" Sparkletooth sputtered as he started rummaging through his jacket. "Ugh, and this was going so well, too."

He eventually pulled out a small tape recorder, which still had a tape inside. "There. This tape is from my interview with my source. I was going to play it once I had Mrs. Chang backed into a corner, but your impatience ruined everything."

That… should be the least of your worries, bucko.

"Well, play it for us now," said Sid.

Sparkletooth snorted. "Th-that would incriminate my source."

"Then how do we know you're not making this up?"

Sparkletooth grunted and sputtered in frustration before heaving a sigh. "So, this is how we're playing this, huh? Fine."

He snapped his fingers, and a member of his crew walked forward with a folded piece of paper. He handed it to Mrs. Chang, who read over the document. After a pause, she deadpanned at Sparkletooth.

"Seriously? This is what you're trying to get me to confess to?" she asked.

"What does it say, Mom?" asked Sid.

Mrs. Chang scoffed. "You're not gonna believe this. Whoever these people are, they're saying that the animals under my care are suffering, and that I need to be fired as soon as possible."

Oh, wow. That is… That's a pretty bold accusation to be throwing at someone like Mrs. Chang. But why was Sparkletooth trying to be so secretive about it? There was no reason to hide the accusation itself if the source is still anonymous.

"Well, now that it's all out in the open, what do you say to that, Mrs. Chang?" Sparkletooth asked. He was trying to put on the charm again, but Mrs. Chang was having none of it.

"I say that you should know by now that this is a load of bunk," she said flatly, shaking the paper in Sparkletooth's face. "I've shown you around this zoo for the better part of an hour, and you have seen nothing that proves anything this source of yours says. How are you taking this seriously?"

Sparkletooth snickered. "Oh, Mrs. Chang. If I simply believed everything anyone told me, I wouldn't make it far in this business. I have all the information I need to show your true colors. I was just trying to spare you the embarrassment and have you confess to it yourself."

And just like that, he's back to his old sleazy self. Does he actually believe what he's saying?

"YOU-CAN-SALVAGE-THIS-SPARKLETOOTH. THIS-IS-STILL-YOUR-STORY."

I… guess that answers that question. I looked over to Sid, who nodded. It sounds like the Emotitron is picking up something amiss about Sparkletooth's attitude.

"Excuse me, Mr. Sparkletooth. But what exactly is your take on all this?" asked Sid. "You've been interviewing my mom all this time, so do you still believe she's a bad person?"

Sparkletooth sneered. "Well, of course I do."

"Then prove it."

The camera crew started visibly panicking at this point. "Um, maybe we should go to commercial?" suggested the cameraman. "This isn't…"

"No. We're doing this live," Sparkletooth insisted. "This is what it's all about. Showing the world the truth, even when it hurts."

I'm just gonna tuck that little nugget into my back pocket, 'cause I'm pretty sure Sid and I are gonna shove it down his throat by the time this is over. Still, if he's confident enough to keep the cameras rolling even after everything we've uncovered, he must have a few tricks up his sleeve. Luckily, so do we. And it's about time we play 'em.

Argument: Sparkletooth's Take

"Mrs. Chang has managed to put on a quaint little show, claiming that she's on the level," Sparkletooth said. "But any journalist worth their salt knows that anyone will say anything to get out of trouble. My source, who I remind you has elected to remain anonymous, knows their stuff when it comes to things like this. And if they claim that Great Lakes City's beloved Mrs. Chang is truly hiding something sinister, well, how can I turn down a story like that?"

When Sparkletooth mentioned Mrs. Chang hiding something sinister, the Emotitron started chiming in my ear. Was it picking up something? Sid frowned and pressed the earpiece in her ear. Suddenly, it repeated a recording of Sparkletooth's words, but over that audio was the sound of the Emotitron's commentary.

"SHE-ISN'T-SINISTER," it chirped. "BUT-THAT'S-NOT-A-JUICY-STORY."

Oh. This… suddenly makes a lot more sense. Before I could say anything, Sid stepped forward and cleared her throat.

"Mr. Sparkletooth, are you sure that's all true?" she asked.

Sparkletooth nodded. "Every word of it. After all, it's my job to expose lies."

"See, I wonder about that," said Sid. "Because when you talked about how my mom was secretly sinister, you sounded… surprised."

Sparkletooth let out a nervous chuckle. "Wh-what do you mean? Of course I was surprised. After all, everyone in Great Lakes City loves Mrs. Chang. They know how great she appears to be."

Sid nodded and smiled. "Exactly. Which is why this story caught you off-guard when you first heard it."

Sparkletooth tilted his head. "I mean, sure. But that doesn't absolve your mother of anything."

"Well, let me ask you this. Why are you believing this anonymous guy over her?" said Sid. "We don't even know who they are. For all you know, they could be lying to you. But you don't really care about that, do you? Because after all, wouldn't taking someone as nice as my mom and turning her into a monster make for a good, juicy story?"

"I, well… I mean… You can't… Nngh~!"

The flabbergasted look on Sparkletooth's face said it all. No matter what he said, he couldn't deny the fact that Sid figured him out.

"So, you knew going into this that there was a good chance things weren't going to go your way," said Sid. "But you're not the kind of person to let your audience down, are you? You needed to give them something juicy, one way or another."

"And what of it?" asked Sparkletooth. "Like I said, that doesn't make your mother innocent."

"But it doesn't make her guilty of anything, either," Sid retorted. "And what happens if it turns out she's not guilty of anything, huh? Wouldn't that ruin your story?"

"Wh-what are you getting at?"

"I'll tell you exactly what I'm getting at," said Sid, turning to Mrs. Chang. "Mom, we actually visited Keyon earlier, and there was a guy hiding in his habitat."

Mrs. Chang's eyes went wide. "There was what?!"

"It's true. I was there," I said with a nod. "Mr. Zolvish got him out, and he said that he was with this organization called the ARF. Have you heard of it?"

Mrs. Chang knitted her brow. "I think Colin mentioned it once or twice. They're an animal activist group, if I recall. But what was he doing in there?"

Sparkletooth suddenly turned completely pale and made a slashing motion across his throat to his camera crew. "Um, maybe now's a good time to…"

"Oh, no. You wanted to do this live, so we're doing it live," I interrupted. "According to that guy we found, he was gonna be part of the interview. In fact, you're the one who sent him down there."

"And he wasn't the only one," Sid added. "He said there were ARF volunteers hiding in animal habitats all over the zoo. We actually found another one of them with the monkeys."

Mrs. Chang gave Sparkletooth a dark look. "You'd better have a good explanation for this."

"I-I have no idea who those ARF guys are."

"DENY-DENY-DENY! THEY-CAN'T-KNOW!"

Yeah, I didn't need the Emotitron to see through that load of bologna. Mrs. Chang wasn't buying it, either.

"I don't think those ARF guys are gonna agree with you there, Mr. Sparkletooth," said Sid. "We talked to 'em, and they're calling this whole thing off."

"Th-they can't do that! We made a dea—"

I had to stop myself from bursting out laughing right then and there as Sparkletooth went completely red in the face and clamped a hand over his own mouth. Oh man, I wish I knew this was gonna happen, because I wanna record this episode and watch it on repeat. Seriously, seeing Jim Sparkletooth himself confess to this on live television is just sosatisfying.

"Well, I think it's safe to guess who your source is," I said after collecting myself. "You were tipped off by the ARF, weren't you?"

"N-no! I wasn't!"

"DENY-DENY-DENY!" the Emotitron wailed (as if it had to say anything).

I simply shook my head. "You can't pull the wool over my eyes that easily, Mr. Sparkletooth. The ARF members we talked to already told us everything. Their boss, Ms. Dracar, hired you to investigate Mrs. Chang. I don't know why she did that, but you weren't going to turn down a good story like this. So to make sure that you could smear Mrs. Chang's good name, you had these ARF members hide in the animals habitats and report to you if the animals did anything aggressive."

"But, what would that prove? That wild animals are dangerous, even in captivity?" asked Mrs. Chang, scratching her head. "And how was that supposed to get me fired?"

…

Huh. That's actually a good point. What was Sparkletooth's goal here? Well, only one way to find out.

"I don't think there's any reason for you to hide your plan from us at this point," I said, crossing my arms. "So, what were you trying to do by having the ARF members hide in those habitats?"

Sparkletooth's eyes darted every which way, sweat pouring from his brow. After a while of this, he turned to look at the camera.

"W-well, that's everything! Thanks for tuning in to our special April Fool's show!" he exclaimed.

I had to do a double take. "Wait, April Fool's? It's the middle of May, you lying snake! Who are you trying to—?"

"Boy, we sure got you good!" he continued, completely ignoring me. "Tune in next week for our actual story! And remember, I'll be coming after your dirty little secret next!" He then made a slashing motion across his throat. "Cut it! Let's get out of here!"

"Hey, hang on a min—"

But by that point, he and his crew were already running away. Dang it. There goes our only lead. Still, at least we saved Mrs. Chang from his trap, as bizarre as it was.

"Well, I'm sure glad that's over," said Mrs. Chang, breathing a sigh of relief. She then smiled at us. "I have to say, that was very impressive, girls. You really saved my bacon there."

I shrugged. "We kinda figured Sparkletooth was up to something. Finding that ARF guy in Keyon's habitat just sealed it for us."

"But why would the ARF be after my mom?" Sid wondered aloud. "She didn't do anything wrong."

"I wish I knew, Sid," I sighed. "But, that can wait. Let's go meet up with the others."

"Ronnie Anne! Sid!"

We turned to see Nat and Pat running up to us. They both looked concerned. That's not a good sign.

"Oh. Uh, hey," said Sid with a small wave. "Everything okay?"

Nat shook her head. "Nyet. Well, some things are okay, but not everything. Good news is that Misha is out of that monkey habitat. Papa managed to get her out. And then we went with that Grit fellow to the other habitats. There was even a guy who tried to hide in…"

"Just get to the point, Nat," I said, cutting across her. "What happened? Are the ARF guys okay?"

"They are. We have a… different problem," said Pat.

"What is it?"

Pat sighed and rubbed the back of her head. "It's hard to explain. Basically, while we were off playing detective with the ARF, Froggy 2 somehow went missing."

…

Oh. Oh, no. That is not good. Adelaide loves that pet frog of hers. I remember how devastated she was when her first frog died. But those two are usually inseparable. How did she lose him?

"I'll let Bitsy know about this so she can spread the word to the others," said Mrs. Chang. "He couldn't have gotten far. If he's still in the zoo, we'll find him."

"In the meantime, maybe Sid and I can help," I said. "Where's Adelaide now?"

"She's with Papa and Carl by the donkey ride," said Nat. "Come, this way."

With that, we darted off. Wow, this day's quite a rollercoaster, huh? We solved one mystery, only to be thrust into another. Heck, I don't think the previous mystery has even been solved yet. Not entirely, anyway. But, one thing at a time. Hopefully, finding a lost frog is not gonna be as difficult as untangling whatever mess Sparkletooth and the ARF made.

…

And I'm really hoping I didn't just jinx myself thinking that. Eh, whatever. If I did, that's on me.