It was a great day. The sun was shining, the fish were swarming, and fat, large bugs were everywhere. All of the fruit in town were ripe, and a sapling in front of Nook's establishment was now full-grown. For the nature lover, everything was perfect for relaxation and peaceful fishing or bug collecting.

For the materialistic, today also had a lot of appeal; one could find multiple items in the dump, lots of findings in the Lost and Found, and a sale at Nook N Go. (Not that any of those places yielded quality items…) It was a suitable day for shopping, dumpster diving and "reclaiming" stuff that wasn't yours in the first place.

That being said, both Skylar and Monique had been wasting the day indoors anyway.

"It's my turn," Monique purred, and Skylar handed her the controller. Monique scooted closer to the screen. "This Balloon Fight game is lots of fun, okay," she said, "even if we had to sneak into Kitty's house to play it."

Skylar chuckled. She knew Kitty very well and was sure that Kitty wouldn't be checking up on her house anytime soon.

"That's human's so weird," Monique complained. "She hasn't written me a single letter in like, four months, okay?"

"Okay," Skylar answered. And then: "No! Look out for the--!"

Monique groaned as the balloon popped on the screen, and the small character floated downwards to their presumable doom. "Oh no!" she hissed. "Can I take another turn?"

Skylar shrugged. "Okay." Outside, she heard the ringing of the bell signaling the changing of the hour. The Mewzic song echoed throughout the entire town.

"Someone should change that tune," Monique complained. Skylar was listening for the flapping of wings. She heard them.

"Pete's here," she announced joyously. Monique snorted.

"There's not going to be anything to me from Kitty," she squealed. Skylar nodded sympathetically, and then stood up and jogged toward the door. "Where are you going, okay?"

"I'm just going to check my mail," she answered. She quickly went outside. Usually Skylar took her time with everything, but this time she wanted to see Pete.

"Hi Pete!" she called to the pelican before he rushed off. The mail bird turned around.

"Oh, hi!" he replied. "What's up?"

"Nothing. You still in love with Phyllis?"

Pete sighed wistfully. "Yeah…"

Skylar gave him a large grin. "Gross" was what she was thinking as she imagined the mail bird trying to woo the world's crabbiest (and arguably ugliest) mail clerk. "Ah, well. In a few months you can give her a Valentine's day card!" she told him.

"…Last year she threw it away in the 'bill' pile of all her mail," Pete said sadly. Skylar, though kind-hearted, had trouble imagining Phyllis getting any mail. "But I know that it was just an accident. After all, the other mail girl got a letter and was ecstatic—"

"You work with her and you don't even know her name?" Skylar interrupted. "Oops, sorry. That was rude."

"That's alright. No, I don't know her name. Why is it important? What really matters in that Phyllis is there in the evenings!" Pete beamed. Skylar's stomach churned.

"Oh, well, okay. Did I get any mail?" she inquired. Pete nodded.

"Some stuff from your mom, and a flyer from Nook and some other stuff," he told her. Skylar smiled and thanked the bird, then watched him as he took off. She checked her mailbox, her gyroid going nuts in the meantime merely at the fact that she was there. She checked her mail. As promised, there were two letters from her mom, and a letter from Cube, and one from Coco. In addition to Nook N Go's daily flyer, there was also a message from Timmy. She ripped that one open first.

Skylar, Tommy and I are ready for our adventure! There's no real need for us to meet, so just pack your bags! One suitcase at the most, please—you can buy them at our store! (Shameless advertising, I know. Dad insisted I put it there.) Timmy

Skylar grinned. And grinned. And grinned some more. Widely. Her broad grin stretched across her face, more than the time she realized Nook wasn't going to require her to work for him anymore. She had to tell Cube right away! That was for certain.

She power-walked across the tiny pavilion and entered Kitty's house. Usually she took her time with walking, but Monique was waiting for her, and excitement was bubbling up inside her chest. "Monique, I'm going to find Cube," she announced breathily. Monique responded with shock.

"I can't stay here alone, okay!" the cat lamented. Skylar smiled at her reassuringly.

"Don't worry; I'm sure Kitty won't be coming back for a while, so just enjoy the Balloon Fight game while you can. I'll be back in an hour to check up on you. Cube might come. We'll see if he's any good at his game" The human gave her feline friend a thumbs up, which was answered by the twitching on a brown tail. "Don't be mad, 'Nique. It's just really important. It's about…" Skylar leaned in to whisper, even though she was still standing by the door and Monique was well on the other side of the room, "the silver mine."

The cat immediately took interest. "Really?" she purred. "Well, okay. Don't let me deter you any longer than. Go! Scat! And remember, you promised me two blocks of silver, okay?"

Skylar nodded and headed out to find her best friend in the whole wide village. Where would the bumbling penguin be?

Strolling around the village after finding Cube's house empty, Skylar decided that she ought take a detour and go to the Wishing Well and apologize for the watch she hadn't been able to return to Coco. So she made her way to the acre-sized pavilion, where the largest tree in Mewzic was rooted directly behind a well. There, she found Cube.

"Skylar!" Cube called out. "I got a really cool letter! You gotta see it!"

"Ok," Skylar said, "but I got a cool letter, too. What if to see whose letter we read first… I try to climb up the Wishing Well's tree before you spell the word Shakespeare?"

"Awright!" Cube agreed immediately, his competitive spirit kicking in. Danielle smiled, aware that a victory was eminent for her. Cube couldn't spell if his life depended on it.

"S-H-E… E…"

Danielle rolled her eyes, and languidly groped for the first branch of the Wishing Well's mighty tree. It was a bit high up, and she couldn't quite reach… But she had a lot of time. She stepped back a bit, and took a running approach to the tree.

The tree seemed to shiver underneath her sneakers. She reached out wildly and tried to grasp the lowest branch. She grabbed it, and a loud pop sound occurred. It seemed to spark off right in her right ear.

"OW!" she shrieked, and grabbed at her ear, trying to block of the resonating sound that was keeping a steady hum in her throbbing ear. Bad move. She fell towards the cobblestone pavilion, screaming.

"…Z… Oh my gosh! Skylar!" Cube ran over to where his friend was in trouble. It was too late; Danielle's back crashed against the ground painfully.

"You okay, d-d-dude?" Cube helped Skylar to her feet. Now her human hands were outstretched, trying to hold the sore spots on her back, as if having her palm on top of them would make them feel better. She took deep breaths and gulps, then coughed, making Cube wonder if Skylar had swallowed a common butterfly. Finally, his best friend calmed down.

"I'm okay," she finally answered.

"A-hem."

Cube and Skylar both looked up, to see the Wishing Well leering at them. Skylar realized that a part of the branch had snapped off in her hand.

"You really have something to apologize for now," the tree groused.