Disclaimer: Refer to "The Dogfish Sharks".
I'm #1 on the leaderboard now, so that's cool.
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"Dashi to Octopod; we've arrived safely at the campsite." She, her sister Koshi, and Deborah dismounted the Octo-Ski at the dock of Camp Chiplaquorgan, where Deborah's older sister Margaret was waiting with her Girl Guide troop.
"Excellent, Dashi," said Captain Barnacles. "We'll check back with you on Sunday." The connection to the Octopod then was cut off.
"I'm glad you guys could join us," said Margaret. "Koshi, you're going to love Camp Chip."
Koshi beamed. "I brought the 32nd Donna Doxi book for the occasion; The Curious Case of Camp Candytuft!" She went to join the other Guides.
Margaret smiled, and turned to her little sister. "How has life as an Octonaut been treating you?"
"It's been great," said Deborah. "I'm working as a junior field researcher. I spend a lot of my time identifying creatures from a book and looking at test slides under a microscope."
"How about that mentor of yours? Sheldon, wasn't it?" Margaret asked, occasionally glancing over her shoulder to make sure the Guides were okay.
Deborah wrung her hands and averted eye contact. "Well…he's very sweet. He helps me with my training, and sometimes he watches my shows with me, and…" She put her hands on her cheeks and giggled.
Dashi chuckled. "Crush on her co-worker," she explained to Margaret, who also laughed before bringing her troop inside to the cabin. The Guides all picked out which bunks they would sleep in.
"Do me a favour," whispered Margaret to Deborah, "and make sure to keep a close eye on Amanda and Michelle." She pointed towards an antelope and malamute duo, who were giggling with each other. "They get lost easily." Deborah nodded.
Once everyone had set up their bedrolls, they went back outside and into the field, where they began a game of Fishes and Whales. About halfway through, they heard a chirping noise. Ever the curious ones, Amanda and Michelle went out onto the gravel.
"Mags!" Michelle called to Margaret. "There's a bird on the water!" The group followed them, and sure enough, a black bird were swimming close to the dock with three chicks on her back.
"That's a loon," said Deborah. "They're pretty common on the Oromocto Lake. One time, when I was a Guide, my friend Donna found one when we were canoeing."
"Let's leave her alone with her babies," said Margaret, shooing the girls back into the field.
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The sun began to rise over the Oromocto Lake. A gentle breeze was blowing, and things were quiet…until a loud squawking erupted from the lake, alerting the Guides and leaders. They all rushed out to see what was wrong.
"My baby! My baby!" The mother loon shrieked.
Dashi and Deborah gently approached the mother. "What happened to your baby?" Dashi asked.
"I'm supposed to have three chicks; Luna, Luz, and Lucas," said the mother loon. "But Luna is missing!"
Deborah popped her head up and scanned the lake. "I can't see her anywhere on the water," she told Dashi. She lowered herself back down to the mother loon's level. "It's okay. We'll find your baby."
Dashi put a call in to the Octopod. "Dashi to Octopod."
"Octopod here," said Captain Barnacles. "Go ahead, Dashi."
"We've got a missing baby loon out on the lake," informed Dashi.
"She could be in danger!" Amanda piped up from behind them.
"Understood. We'll send you some help." Captain Barnacles pressed the Octo-Alert button.
"Octonauts, to the launch bay!"
All of the Octonauts, who were also just rustling out of bed, rushed to the launch bay.
"Octonauts, a baby loon has gone missing somewhere on the Oromocto Lake."
"She can't feed herself!" The mother loon wailed. "She'll go hungry!"
"She's right, Captain," said Professor Inkling. "Baby loons don't learn to feed themselves until they're about six weeks old."
"I reckon Peso an' I could find her," said Kwazii. He and Peso both entered the GUP-E. Tweak opened the Octo-Hatch, and they went out on the way to Oromocto Lake.
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"What's your name?" Peso asked the mother loon.
"Luisa," she said softly.
"What does your baby look like?"
"She has fluffy brown feathers and dark eyes," said Luisa, "and a white mark on her beak."
"It's best you keep your other chicks on the shore," said Dashi. "If they wander off, we might mistake them for the missing one." The mother loon nodded and shooed her two remaining chicks onto the dock.
"It may take a while to find the missing chick," said Deborah. "This lake is 116 meters."
"That doesn't sound too far," said Kwazii.
"That's 381 feet," said Deborah, in a deadpan tone.
"Yeow! That is far!" Kwazii exclaimed.
"If she disappeared in the night, she could be on the other side of the lake by now," said Peso, scanning the lake from next to Deborah.
"We'll split up," said Dashi. "Kwazii and I will take the Octo-Ski across the left side of the lake, Peso can take the GUP-E across the right side, and Deborah will keep an eye on the other two chicks to make sure we don't lose them too." They all nodded, and went off to do their respective jobs.
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"This is odd," said Shellington, whom Deborah had on call from the Octo-Pad. "Normally, loons only lay two eggs at a time. How does this one have three?"
"Oh, I got lost," said Luz. "I climbed onto the wrong back, and they just kept me."
Shellington blinked, surprised at her bluntness. "…Alright. Uh, what happened to your mother?"
"I don't know. I guess she moved on with her life," said Luz, unbothered.
Shellington nodded. Even though it was rather unprofessional, he decided to make his move on Deborah. "So, uh, did you get enough beauty sleep?"
"There were about fifteen preteen girls with cheesy junior novels in the room next to mine," said Deborah, in a cranky tone. "What do you think?"
"...Oh, okay, sorry..." Shellington quieted down.
Lucas huffed. "We've been waiting here for fifty million years."
"It's been two hours," said Deborah.
"Same thing," said Lucas.
Just then, the three other Octonauts returned. All of them were empty-handed. "We searched the whole lake," said Peso, "but she's just not anywhere."
"What?!" Luisa cried. "She has to be on this lake somewhere!"
Kwazii shook his head. "She isn't on the left or the right. Where the hell else could she be on this goddamn lake?"
Dashi elbowed him. "Stop swearing, there are little kids here."
"Well, great," said Deborah. "Now what are we gonna do?"
Behind her, Amanda and Michelle were wandering along the shore when they heard a little chirp almost identical to the one they heard the previous night. They followed the noise into a patch of long grass in the water. Amanda stuck her head in. Staring back at her was the missing loon chick.
"Mags!" She hollered. "I found the chick!" All the adults rushed over to them. Michelle presented them with Luna.
"Well, I'll be a sea monkey's uncle," said Kwazii. "It is her! How'd ya do it?!"
"We followed her call," said Amanda. "Mags told us that loons make a very distinct sound." Luna hopped out of Michelle's hands and went to join her family. The baby loons climbed onto their mother's back as she swam away. Margaret watched until they were out of sight.
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It was now after lunch. Everyone was out by the lake.
"Isn't that awesome? We helped save the day!" Amanda and Michelle cheered to each other.
"You did a great job," said Dashi. "I bet you two will be great animal rescuers someday."
The other Octonauts were sitting on the dock. "Stand back, maties," said Kwazii. "I'm goin' in." He stepped back, then lunged forward and flipped into the lake. Unfortunately, he had not been informed that the lake water was very, very cold. Almost immediately, he burst out of the water and shrieked. "OH GOD! JESUS!" He screeched. "THAT WAS A TERRIBLE IDEA!" Everyone around him laughed.
BKPSDITTEKDL (y'all know what time it is)
"Calling all Octonauts!"
"Kwazii!"
"Peso!"
"Shellington!"
"Dashi!"
"Inkling!"
"Tweak!"
"Juniors!"
…
"Tunip!"
Captain Barnacles chuckled and put Tunip down. "Kwazii, activate Creature Report!"
"Creature Report, Creature Report!"
"Creature Report!" (clap clap clap)
"Facts: Loons live on Oromocto Lake."
"Check!"
"Check!"
"Check!"
"They're known for the unique sounds they make."
"Check!"
"Check!"
"Bree!"
"They ride around atop their mother's back…" (Creature Report, Creature Report)
"…till they learn to dive and get their own snacks." (Creature Report, Creature Report)
"If you need to find one in a pinch…"
"Check!"
"Check!"
"Chirp!"
"Just give them a call and they'll be there in a cinch!"
"Dance break!"
(insert dance break here)
"Go loon! Go loon! Go loon! Creature Report, Creature Report!"
"Creature Report!"
"We're done with our mission! Octonauts, at ease, until the next adventure!"
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Info about the loon taken from All About Birds, Hinterland Who's Who, and Wikipedia
Info about Oromocto Lake taken from Mapcarta
Info on Girl Guides and Camp Chiplaquorgan taken from ten years of experience as a Girl Guide
BKPSDITTEKDL (bonus scene!)
It was lunchtime on Sunday when Dashi and Deborah returned to the Octopod. Deborah entered the lab looking tired.
"What's up, love?" Shellington greeted her, then instantly cringed. "Shouldn't have called her 'love'..."
"Sleepy," said Deborah. "I always wake up early at Guide camp. And I'm sorry I got snippy with you on the dock."
"Oh, it's fine..." Shellington trailed off as he realized that Deborah had slumped over. She had fallen asleep standing up. He chuckled, picked her up, and brought her to her bed.