Upon hearing her husband's cry, Benny's wife, Becky, came out to see what the ruckus was.
"Honey, remember what the exterminator said. The weevils have been taken care of for good."
She stopped in her tracks as soon as she saw the empty garden.
"Oh no!" Becky exclaimed in shock. "How could this have happened?!"
"I-I-I I have no idea!" Benny stammered. "I checked my garden every day and night, and not a single thing was out of place. But-but, everything's just gone now!"
"Pop, is there anything we can do?" Betty respectfully asked.
"No, I don't want you guys to waste y'all's day for my sake," Benny solemnly replied.
"WHAT!?" all the kids screamed in unison. "We can't let you handle this mess on your own!" Warren said.
"Yeah, were a team!" replied Bailey.
"More than that, we're a family!" exclaimed Beverly, to which all of the kids shouted "YEAH!".
Benny received a text message on his phone. It was from Bridget, the texting sister, and it read "Got your back, Pop! #FamilyForever". Benny was in tears of gratitude at his children's determination, but he quickly straightened his face up and said, "No, no. Thank you all, but this garden was my responsibility. I got careless with my vegetables, so it's my duty to correct my own mistake. Come on, Becky, let's call the K-9 patrol and see if they can track down our crops."
With that, Benny and Becky walked back inside, while all the kids remained outside. Betty stepped in front of the crowd of siblings and faced them. "You all know what this means, right?" she inquired them all.
"We get a day off from harvesting?!" Brenda replied eagerly. Bailey responded by elbowing her sister. "Ow!"
"No," said Betty, "it means we have to help Dad to track down his missing vegetables! He may not want to admit it, but he needs all the help he can get!"
"Betty's right", Warren agreed. "There are a ton of veggies that went missing, so it could take all day for the police to find them all, maybe longer. But with our help, from all 25 of us, we could help them find them even quicker!" All the sisters mumbled to each other in agreement.
"Sooo… how exactly do we do that?" asked Blair, the fashionista sister.
"We could each get a lucky charm,'' stated Bernice, the superstitious sister, "that way each of us could have a chance at finding them."
"Whoa, do you really have enough of those for all of us?" Bianca asked. "Sure!" responded Bernice, "I have one of each kind of charm for each sibling. I even got the premium package for Brooke." At that, a delivery man walked up with a large box. "Delivery for Brooke Loud!" he hollered. Brooke, the paranoid sister ran up to him in a flash and signed the paper. "Oh yes, thank you!" she cried with joy, before opening up the box, filled with all kinds of lucky charms, and embraced an armful of them firmly. "Oh please make this day better, please make this day better!" she muttered to herself.
"Well, we're gonna need a lot more than luck for this situation," Betty said. "Is there anyone who's good at tracking things down?"
"Well,'' stated Birdie, "I've been reading some mystery novels that have some really good techniques for finding suspects."
"Perfect!" said Betty. "Anyone else?"
"I could survey the area and look for any prints or forms of DNA," responded Beatrice. "I could also look for any samples that may lead us to what we're looking for."
"I could also chase down anyone who makes a run for it!" Bertha exclaimed, before starting up some squats.
"I can be sincere with people," said Beverly. "It helps to get the truth out of them."
"Well, not always, Bev, but this is a crisis," Betty sternly said. "Alright, who else?"
"Ooh, ooh!" Warren eagerly raised his hand. "No, Warren,'' Betty said, knowing exactly what he was thinking. "This is serious." "Pleeeeaaase?" begged Warren. "No!" barked Betty. "No Ace Bunny!"
"Come on, Betty!" said Warren. "You said so yourself, Dad needs all the help he can get, and Danny and I would be the perfect help."
Betty sighed loudly. "Fine, whatever, but just to make sure everything goes smoothly, everyone needs to be in a team!"
"Alright, a game plan!", chanted Bailey. "Let's do it!" Betty then had all the siblings gather in groups.
"Team One: Warren, Bethany, Bella, Bailey, and Brenda."
"Team Two: Birdie, Barbara, Blair, Bebe, and Belinda."
"Team Three: Beverly, Bridget, Bernice, Bianca, and Bernadette."
"Team Four: Beatrice, Brie, Beth, Blanch, and Bippa."
"And Team Five: Bertha, Brooke, Brandy, Beulah, Bodhi, and myself."
As soon as everyone was gathered up, Betty gave further instructions. "Each team will head toward each section of the forest, Team One willl search the north section, Team Two will search the west section, Team Three the south, Team Four the east, and my team will search the central area. Is everyone clear?"
"YES MA'AM! replied all the siblings.
"Good, now everyone spread out!" bellowed Betty.
As everyone moved out to their locations Warren gleefully pulled out his phone and dialed. "Danny", he said after his best friend picked up, "there's a big mystery afoot, one only that…"
"Say no more", said Danny on the other line. "It's time for Ace Bunny and One-Eyed Jack Beaver to shine again!"
"You said it, buddy!" Warren replied with delight. "Hoo hoo hoo hoo!" he chanted with Danny as he pumped his fist in the air. Suddenly, Bailey blew her whistle, causing Warren to jump. "Hey, bro!" she yelled. "Less geeking and more going!"
"Alright, we're headed toward the northward part of the forest". Warren whispered to Danny. "Meet us along the way."
"You got it, Ace," Danny replied before hanging up.
Team five remained behind briefly as all the other teams split up. Betty gathered her teammates around close and gave them a quick reassurance. "Now team, I hope everyone understands the stakes are high in this mission. There are prized vegetables that Dad put his blood, sweat and tears into growing and caring for that are in need of our rescuing, and I will be frank, there might be a few dangerous obstacles, but we need to keep pushing on for Mom and Dad. Is everyone with me?"
"All the way, sister!" said Bertha.
"Oh yes!" said Brandy.
"Yee-haw!" hollered Beulah, the cowgirl sister.
"Namaste", said Bodhi softly.
Everyone turned toward Brooke, who gulped and smiled nervously. "Oh, of-of course!" she said, trembling slightly. "J-just give me one second." She ran over to her box of charms and started embracing them again. "Please let us be safe, please let us be safe".
Betty groaned softly. "Alright, troops, let's get a move on! That goes for you too, Brooke!"
Brooke, who was still kneeling over by her box turned around quickly. "Oh, okay, I'm coming!" She carried a bunch of charms in her arms. "And leave the charms, for corn's sake!" Betty grumbled with her hand in her face. Brooke immediately dropped her charmed and ran to catch up with her group. The hunt was on for the vegetables!