"Really, this is your expertly crafted disguise? It's just a trash can with the bottom carved out and armholes. I could have come up with this…" Jade spun in a circle, groaning as she took in the full extent of what she was wearing. "Ugh, it smells awful, too. Couldn't you have at least cleaned this thing before you gave it to us?"

The Lemon shrugged and laughed. "Well, you wanted to be a trash can, now you are a trash can. You're trying to blend in, not be comfortable. These dealers aren't probably the brightest bulbs, but I think even a new Toon could notice a cloth garbage container. Authentic is the way to go, and that includes the smell. Nobody would suspect anybody of going this far, which makes it the perfect disguise."

Deputy Skids, the other unfortunate participant in the trash can was suffering for another reason, Dog Toons had extraordinary senses of smell, and it just so happened that the trash can that had been commandeered for the mission was likely the recipient of dirty diapers. The trooper that he was, the green dog persevered in the name of stopping crime. "Hey, I don't like this anymore than you do, but they have a point. They are experts, and they're going to be a big part of this sting. When you're accepting your medal, you can recount this story during your acceptance speech."

"Could have given me some nose plugs at least…" The pink duck mumbled. "So, is there any update on Brownie and those other two sugar-junkies?"

"Actually, yes. Just got a whisper from him." Being placed in charge of communication, The Orange had the responsibility of coordinating between everybody and ensuring a smooth operation. "He said that they are on their way to the alley to meet up with the target. Should be there in about ten minutes."

The Lime was giddy in his excitement. "Do you think we could come watch? I really want to see how well the disguises work."

Skids frowned. "Aw, sorry dude. But we need to keep this operation tight. Any slip-ups could ruin all of this work. You guys being there would stand out like a cog wearing a pink dress. You guys will know you did a good job when we come back with an arrested suspect."

"Actually, about that…" The yellow deer pulled out a clanging, metal contraption. "It just so happens we accidentally made two similar costumes that fit both of us perfectly. What a weird coincidence. Does this mean we can come with?"

"Have you guys just been saving those there this whole time? You do know we're in a hurry, right?" Jade stuck her arms out from the small holes carved out in the sides just so that she could cross them in annoyance. "I understand you two aren't officials or anything, but you understand this has legal consequences. This isn't just spying on a cheating partner or something. This could have serious effects on many lives. You two could never begin to understand. Hell, The Orange here probably wouldn't be able to comprehend it either. You're still just a trainee Ranger."

Ready to defend himself and his partners, The Orange began to speak but suddenly stopped himself. He couldn't reveal the full knowledge of their past without bringing up other questions about their pasts. "Well, what harm could it do? They will hide off away from the action. I will put my reputation on the line in their defense. I believe in their abilities."

Skids, clearly exasperated, gave in. "Fine, we have like seven minutes before they get there. We still need to get ahead on this. How will it look if a bunch of trash cans are walking around Lullaby Lane? We need to get a move on. Just go ahead and get dressed fast. We're leaving immediately."

Brownie, while just a few years older than Gummi, felt magnitudes older than the two Toons that he was accompanying to meet their friend. The chubby mouse had been practicing his lingo and trying to gather enough generic information about his new "companions" so that he wouldn't seem like a narc right away. Switching over from his normal Ranger uniform to a more laid-back outfit of a Ranger's ideal of a Sugar User was, he attempted to blend in. "Alright, dudes. This is totally gonna be a jiffy. We'll just roll up with the homies and attempt to seal the deal, and when he goofs and gives it away, we arrest your dealer buddy and you'll both be cool as a cucumber."

"Woah, man. You sound like a total boomer. Aren't you like twenty-six? What's your deal? That dealer will sniff you out in a second. Which is whatever, you just wanted us to show up. Not doing anything beyond that though." Gummi woofed out as the trio continued a slow walk to the meeting spot.

"No need to harsh my mellow, man. I'm just chillin' like a villain. Y'all just do what I say and I'll let you do the talking. Remember though, you slip, or dip? Well you'll rip. Capisce?" Brownie's groan-inducing dialogue was quickly laughed at by the younger Toons.

Stinky, who had already forgotten about the threats that Deputy Skids had imperiled upon him, decided to continue taunting the Ranger. "Whatever, man. You're going to get noticed right away, dude. You're a joke. You might as well just go up there and tell them you're a cop. Save yourself the effort. Might even be able to just get this over faster. I have a fat bag of pow- I have things I need to be doing at home.

Rolling his eyes, the brown mouse ignored the Toonager's comment. "Well, it certainly isn't cleaning because your house stinks. Just because your name is Stinky doesn't mean your house needs to be that way too. How's that for a roast?"

"Hey, shut up. It's hard taking care of a whole house, dude. Not like you'd know, you're probably so busy harassing us that you probably never go home to make it messy." Stinky continued to be defensive over his domicile.

"Alright, no need to be touchy, buddy. Anyways, it looks like we're almost there." Making the last turn around the bend, the trio of Toons, all anxious for different reasons, made their way to a sketchy alley where they would be meeting the other two.

Skids and Jade crouched quietly in the dark alley. Both had eventually come to not notice how horrible the smell was. Their legs were getting sore from their positioning in the crowded container, and breathing was muffled by the humidity inside of the thick metal disguise. Through the tiny eyehole that had been drilled into the side, the lime green dog watched patiently. The quartet of hidden Toons could hardly breath in anticipation of not giving anything away. Growing impatient, Skids began typing into his whisper device. "Does anybody see them? They're running late."

Jade began typing back furiously. "Damn it. Your partner better not have messed this up. I've been sitting in this trash can for too long for him to have messed this up."

"Dude, it has been like 15 minutes. Calm down, we're pulling up now." The message popped up from Brownie who was finally coming into view. "So, where are you guys?"

"We're in the trash cans. You know, the only trash cans in the entire alley. I can see you there, but where's the other guy?" Skids messaged back, getting increasingly anxious. Deputy had done many investigations but never had gone undercover quite like this. Plus, he felt like he needed to prove himself as a Ranger. While Jade didn't necessarily have any authority that could undermine him, even in Donald's Dreamland, he still felt an obligation to show he could catch a high-power criminal. "Any idea of what we should be looking for?"

Standing directly in front of Skids and the rest of the garbage cans, he made sure to speak loudly enough so all four could hear him, while staying in character. "So dudes, like, how do we know who to look for? Your buddy ain't gonna bail on us, right?"

Gummi groaned. "Dude, he'll be here. He's a purple monkey. Hard to miss. I'm not sure what his plug looks like." As the red dog spoke, Jade began banging on her can, trying to get his attention. "What the heck is that?"

"Probably just the wind. I'm not sure what else it could be, it would be weird if a trash can could bang around like that." Brownie said sarcastically, confused why the pink duck was trying to give things away.

"I see someone coming, be ready!" Jade whispered as loudly as she could. Sure enough, a purple monkey appeared at the edge of the alley, flanked by bright pink crocodile who was likely the dealer. "Hmm, not exactly what I was thinking."

The pair sauntered down with purpose. The monkey appeared quite nervous, almost as if he knew he was walking into something. The crocodile also seemed to be in a defensive position, although any deal had the potential to go wrong, so Skids had no qualms in assuming they might need to make a quick arrest,

Brownie attempted to break the ice with his nearly comedic attempt to play a stoner. "Aw, damn. Its about time you guys made it. I have a hankering for some powdered sugar. I thought you guys were busting me about it.:"

"Are you messing with me mouse? You think this is a joke? You play funny like that and I'm going to cut your tongue out." The short Toon was already Intimidating the experienced Ranger into silence, Brownie just nodded and allowed the other three to blow through the rest of it. "So, you guys wanted to meet here. Why?"

"Er, well I just thought it would be good to get my own connection. I can't just wait for Derek to be available, you know?" Stinky tried to stick to the half-brained script that the Rangers had given him. None of whom really had any idea how to blend in.

Derek rubbed his arm. "Yeah, I think I'm going to have to stop. Nothing against you of course, just… I don't know. I'm not liking where things are going." Realizing that his friend wasn't just putting on an act, Gummi felt like he needed to throw Derek under the bus to ensure he made it out scrutinized.

"That's surprising. You're the one who has been hooking us up this whole time. I didn't even really start doing it until you got into it." Gummi spat out of his mouth, trying to sound as convincing as he could to two completely opposite sides.

"Listen "dudes" I don't have all night. My boss has me on a tight schedule. Even meeting with you guys is putting my ass on the line. Now, if you want some powdered sugar, you better pay up now or I'm not selling to you idiots anymore."

Stinky took offense to the Sugar dealer's insult. "You're calling me an idiot? You're the one who couldn't even tell this dude is an undercover Ranger. Even I would have noticed this boomer's not a stoner."

Pulling out a knife, the crocodile jumped back and began swinging the sharp weapon back and forth. Derek leapt back, narrowly avoiding being slashed by his acquaintance. "So, it was a setup? Should have known! You better watch your backs, if I see any of you, you're dead!" Letting out one last gasp slash, the dealer managed to catch Derek across the wrist as he put his hands up to defend his face. Dropping to the ground, the ape screamed out and covered his heavily bleeding arm.

"Don't let her get away!" Skids screamed as he leapt up. Knowing he didn't have time to discard his disguise, the clanging, metal monstrosity began to pursue the object of their sting. "Damn it, Stinky you idiot!" He yelled out, echoing through the alley. "Brownie, come with me! Jade, you guys take care of those three!" The green dog must have looked quite the sight to the citizens of Donald's Dreamland who many were getting ready to sleep. A trash can with arms, legs and a head, yelling and chasing a hooded crocodile. "You're under arrest in the name of the Toontown Rangers! Surrender yourself!"

"Skids, don't worry! I got this!" Rolling along on a skateboard that he had brought along as a prop, Brownie began speedily catching up to the admittedly slow-moving dog. Deputy appreciated the quick thinking, as the heavy load of the disguise had caused the fugitive to pull away. "Watch out, I'm coming behind you!"

Ducking and flinging himself out of the way, the lime green canine winced as he bounced off a curb and into the street. "Get her, Ranger!" Ripping off the garbage can, he looked up and neither of the other Toons were in sight. Without an idea of where they went, he could not give chase. He was running blind and would just waste energy. He'd just have to trust his partner. Plus he had a certain bunny to talk to. Yeah… talk to.

As the lime green dog pulled up, he found the alley in a state of general chaos. The Lemon had gotten stuck in his trash can disguise and was being pulled out by The Lime. Stinky was being held in one hand by Jade, who was trying to tend to the monkey's wound. "Skids, thank goodness you're back. The Lemon is stuck!"

"No time for that!" Jade interrupted. "This guy has a pretty bet open cut, and he's at risk of bleeding out if we don't get him to a hospital. But I need to watch these two fools!"

"I mean, I know I'm stuck but I'm not a fool!" The yellow deer yelled back.

Groaning, Sheriff shook her head. "I meant these two. You two are the idiots, these two are the fools. Urgh! Just, Skids, can you take over for me? I can't handle all of this right now."

Whipping out some bandages, Skids immediately jumped into action wrapping up the bleeding ape's wrist. "Come on, we need to get you to a real hospital. This isn't going to hold things off exceptionally long. You'll need stitches."

"Dude, I can't do that. Then my mom will find out that I was out here, and she'll kill me! Just let me go, I'll just keep changing out the bandages and it'll heal eventually!" Derek began panicking, knowing that he was likely going to get arrested and hoping his pathetic begging would somehow help him escape the situation.

"Sorry, bud. I'm not going to let you die to get out of dealing with consequences. Come on, let's go." Putting his arm around the monkey's shoulder, he led the young Toon off to the Donald's Dreamland General Hospital, which fortunately was just several blocks down the street. For anybody who didn't know the pair, they may have been confused for a father and son.

Brownie had surprised himself with his own ability. He had never skateboarded before and only had brought it with him so he could blend in better. As he pressed his foot down onto the cobblestone, he jiggled lightly as the skateboard rolled over the small cracks and dips in the sidewalk. "Give it up, you're under arrest for drug dealing, croc!"

Sucking in air, the heavily dressed reptile knew she was not going to be able to outrun a skateboard, even when the user was a fat, inexperienced mouse. She was going to have to break away, but how? If she got caught, she knew what could happen. Members of the gang who had been arrested usually didn't last very long outside of prison. Captain Jack was known for snuffing out any possibilities of a snitch. "Gotta… Get… Away…" She managed to slip a few words out between gasps of oxygen. When she felt that she had reached the end of the road, a miracle presented itself. About fifty feet away was a fire escape that was gradually descending, almost as if it was being sent down from Heaven itself. Mustering up any remaining energy and strength, the dealer boosted herself and made a leaping jump, fingertips latching onto the bottom rung.

"Oh, crap!" The brown mouse had not been expecting such jumping ability, looking up as he flew by the fugitive. Screeching to a halt, the rodent flung himself around. There was no chance the short, robust Toon could make such a jump. Fortunately, the escaping criminal was quite noticeable as she stomped her way across the metal walkways overhead. The transparent, holey structure could not hide the gator's getaway. Pulling out his whisper device, Brownie dialed in for Skids. While it rang endlessly, he continued to propel himself forward, foot pounding the pavement relentlessly. "Come on, answer the phone!"

"If you two run, I assure you that you're going to face harsh consequences. I'm not Skids. I'm not going easy on you two. This stupid, stupid, stupid rabbit has already screwed this whole thing up and broken your end of the deal."

"What did I do? It's Stinky's fault!" Gummi pleaded annoyed.

After much effort, The Lemon had been successfully pulled from his trash can, the plump deer grabbed his ribs which had been squashed and scratched in the rescue effort. "Phew, that was an ordeal." Looking around, he was confused when half of the Toons who had been there a few minutes prior had disappeared. "Where'd Skids and Brownie go? Or the monkey?"

Jade, turning a bright shade of red, balled her shirt up as she tried to keep herself from exploding like Krakatoa. "What was your name again? Lemon?"

Interrupting, The Lime chimed in. "It's actually the Lemon…" Shutting his mouth immediately from a horrifying glare from the fowl, the lime green dog let Jade finish speaking.

"Well, "The Lemon." Due to your incompetence, and this rabbit's idiocy, the dealer got away. How did you not design these to fit you better? How am I surrounded by such nincompoops?" Crouching down, the pink duck put her face in her hands, doing everything in her power to keep herself from falling to pieces. She had been tracking that disgrace of a Toon for months, and now the best opportunity she had to grab the rope was slipping through her hands. "You two, can you at least do one thing for me?"

"Us?" Stinky stupidly inquired, before being staggered back by shooting daggers from Jade's eyes. "Uhm, nevermind."

The Lime stood at attention and saluted, knowing how frustrating it was to lose a lead. Not to mention his own past with Captain Jack. "We'll do anything we can to redeem ourselves, ma'am."

"Please don't call me, ma'am." Jade whispered, frustrated. She knew they were trying their best, but this is what happened when she trusted others to help. "Hold on a second. Where is Brownie? Deputy came back and didn't mention him. Maybe you guys could go look for him. I'll check in with Skids and see how that monkey is doing. I guess it wouldn't look great if some kid died during all of this."

"Of course. We are ace detectives after all. We'll track down Brownie. Actually, we'll do you one better. We'll track down the dealer, too!"

Pulling out their extensive sleuthing kit, including magnifying glasses and special lighting. The two present C.U.M members were excited to start their search. "I'll call up The Orange and see if he can start tracking down from the office. One second…"

The rolling sound of a skateboard clacking against the sidewalk caught everybody's attention. "Wait. Who would be out skateboarding this late?" Jade questioned. "Wait a minute, is that?"

"Did anybody order a runaway with extra powdered sugar?" From within the gentle glow of the moonlight, a figure appeared like a deity, flushed from the sky to bring salvation to the struggling detectives.

Deputy couldn't help but feel a hint of Déjà vu as he waited in the hospital with Derek. Fortunately, he was here under considerably better circumstances. Sitting inside of a small room, a nurse finished applying the stitches and cut the final string before nodding and patting the chimp on the head. "Well, that should do it. Give those about three-four days and they should dissolve naturally. Be careful when bathing or washing your hands. Don't do anything strenuous or anything that could yank them out. Also, don't run with knives. You're old enough to know that, aren't you?"

Derek half-agreed as he mumbled, not needing a lecture for the second time already tonight. "I understand. It was just an accident."

"That's one heck of an accident. You're lucky this Ranger was able to find you before anything serios happened." The black cat pulled his rubber gloves off and disposed them into a small trash can near the bed. "Well, you two are free to leave when you're ready. I have other patients I need to attend to, although try not to take too long." Without another word, the medical professional had left, leaving the duo alone to discuss Derek's fate.

"So, what are you going to arrest me? Call my mom and tell her I was out buying drugs? Typical. You guys always go after us, and never the dudes selling. Ruining lives so that you put on the charade of actually doing something." Hanging his head, Derek's stomach felt like an overfilled balloon waiting to pop, and the Ranger was the sharp needle that was closing in fast.

Taking a seat on the "bed" that the hospital provided them, he patted the plastic covering that was supposed to keep the surface sanitized, although was now covered in droplets of the monkey's blood. "So, Derek. You mentioned a mom, do you have any other family?"

Bamboozled by the older Toon's question, the only word Derek could muster was "huh."

"Family. You know. Siblings. Father. Aunt or uncle? Anything? Or is it just you and your mom." Deputy wanted to confirm what he was thinking but didn't want to risk giving anything away quite yet.

"Um, yeah. I mean, I have a little brother. Well, not that little. He's only two years younger than me. Our dad died a long time ago, and I've never met most of my family. They all live in Valentoonia and kind of keep to themselves. Why, do you need to tell them too?"

Chuckling, the gentle canine shook his head. Lowering his head in a more vulnerable position. Deputy was a master of psychological interrogation. He knew exactly how to get somebody to say what he wanted, while maintaining the genuine and caring attitude that he felt was necessitated by the situation. "I'm sorry to hear about your loss. Listen, I'm just going to be up-front with you. I'm not interested in getting you in trouble. Your mom doesn't need to know. But I want to ask you something."

Perking his ears up at the idea of getting off free, the chimp was filled with a newfound optimism. "Yeah. I mean, yeah? What is it?"

"Your brother. Do you care about him? What about your mom?" Lowering his voice, Skids was not speaking in a hushed whisper. Almost nearly inaudible without being just inches away from him. "Don't answer, that's a rhetorical question. Of course, you do."

"How did you know?" Derek stated sarcastically.

Shrugging, Deputy winked and laughed at the younger Toon's loosening attitude. "There's a reason I'm a Ranger after all. But that's besides the point. I just wanted to ask, how would you feel if your brother was the one who had gotten caught. Who ended up In the hospital after getting attacked? What if he was the one doing sugar, and overdosed? Toons are dying from this, Derek. I know you're young and you feel invincible, but you're not…" Pausing, Skids took a deep breath as the chimp's face began to fill with streaming tears. "I know you don't want that, and they don't want that for you either. Just, think about who you're hanging out with and what you're doing. You know, its funny in a way. I was actually just here a few nights ago with a similar looking monkey." The green dog was quite certain this was the brother of the monkey he had consoled in this very hospital's kitchen. "Just funny how things work." Hopping off the bed, Skids checked his whisper device, ignoring the seven missed calls and nineteen whispers. "Enough lecturing though. You don't want to listen to an old boomer talk all night. I'm going to go ahead and let you go. Although I can't guarantee the same thing for your friends Stinky or Gummi. I think they were willing to sell you out, and maybe you should really think about that. Now, get on home before I change my mind."

Choking up, Derek began stuttering over his own word. His tongue and lips could move, but nothing could be said. He wanted to thank the Ranger, but at the same time he didn't want to test his luck. Wiping his face and nose on his sleeve, the ape nodded and ran out of the hospital, shooting like a bullet directly home.

"Good kid. He'll figure it out." The fatherly figure took out his whisper device and scrolled through his missed whispers.

"Skids. Answer the phone ASAP. We got the dealer."