As Team One made their way toward the north part of the forest, each of the teammates pondered over who might have stolen their dad's garden. Warren was clad in his Ace Bunny suit and leading the crew down the trail.
"It's really weird how someone can just take Dad's whole garden without him finding out," said Warren. "Dad always makes sure that all his vegetables are safe and secure".
"That's putting it mildly," Brenda grumbled. "Do you remember how he stayed up every night to patrol the garden?"
"Yeah, and how he got that huge dome just to protect it from the wind?" said Bethany, the organized sister.
"Don't forget the pesticide overload after he saw a ladybug nymph" moaned Bella, the emo sister. "Sigh, even the small things in our world get completely overlooked."
Everyone took a brief pause after Bella's anecdote, then suddenly broke out laughing. "Yep, classic Dad!" Bailey snickered. Brenda was the only one not laughing. Instead, she huffed, "Why are we even bothering with this? Those veggies can be literally anywhere in the forest! And how do we know someone didn't already eat them up or something?"
"Well we won't know until we find out," Bailey replied, "and we can't leave Mom and Dad in the lurch, so be a good sport!" Brenda just crossed her arms and scowled, "Mmm, I guess you're right."
The gang reached the riverside. "Alright guys, this looks like a good place to get some information."
"Okay, "Ace"," Bethany said to Warren, so how do we start looking for clues?"
"Well…", Warren thought it over hard. He looked around the area, and saw nothing particularly suspicious. Nothing but beavers, muskrats, ducks, and other kind-looking riverfolk minding their own business. "It doesn't look like any of these guys are really the type to steal vegetables, but then again, I'm not too familiar with the guys who live around here."
"No problem!" Bethany pitched in, pulling out her pencil and paper. "I'll just list off all the river dwellers and we can ask each one of them individually."
"Not a bad idea, Bethany," said Warren, "but we need to find a lead as quickly as possible. The sooner we do, the sooner we can find the goods before something happens to them."
"He's got a point there," replied Bailey. "So how do we do that?"
"I think I might know!" said a voice. The five Louds turned around, and Warren smiled widely. It was Danny standing proudly in his One-Eyed Jack Beaver costume. "Hey, Ace and gang!"
"Hey Danny!" chimed Bethany. 'What's up, Danster?", said Bailey. "Hello there", Bella said softly. "Yeah, hi," grumbled Brenda.
"Yo, One-Eyed Jack Beaver!" chanted Warren. "Glad you can join us on this trek, cadet!"
"Happy to be of assistance!" said Danny. "So I hear your looking for a way to get some info about your dad's garden, right?"
"Right you are," replied Warren. "Only problem is, we're not sure how to ask these any of the animals here without spending too much time."
"No problem!" said Danny. "My dads and I come to this part of the river many times, so I know most of these guys pretty well. I can give you guys a quick rundown of what I know about them."
"That's great!" Warren said with a smile. "So what can you tell us?"
Danny checked out the animals hanging around that part of the river. He pointed at a couple of otters fishing on the shore. "Okay so those two are Matt and Pat, some real good friends of my dads'. They mostly just spend their time fishing. Only thing is, they don't ever remember to use bait, so all they ever catch are twigs are rocks and whatnot."
"Woah," replied Bethany. "They don't sound like the brightest bunch."
"Yeah… they really aren't,'' said Danny, "so those guys probably couldn't raid an entire garden even if they wanted to."
"Okay, so we have our least likely suspect," Warren responded. "Bethany, take that down ." Bethany started jotting down information. "So who else can you fill us in on, One-Eyed Jack?"
"Well, there's also Mr. and Mrs. Duckworth and their brood," Danny said, pointing to a large family of cheerful ducks having a picnic while the ducklings played. "They're pretty friendly mostly, except when there's a piece of bread in sight." After Danny said that, all the ducks froze upon spotting a bread chunk in the grass, then started a fight with loud quacking as they jumped for it. "Morning, Danny!" Mr. and Mrs. Duckworth paused to greet Danny before continuing to brawl.
"Good morning!" Danny replied, before gesturing to a beautiful swan girl reading on the park bench. "And there's Jenny Swanson. She usually keeps to herself, but she doesn't like being approached too much." Just then, a male swan dressed in a tuxedo and carrying a bouquet of flowers waddled over to the bench, sat next to Jenny, and cleared his throat. Jenny peeked from her book and turned toward the swan, who smiled widely and presented his flowers. Jenny responded with a loud "HISS", which sent the frightened swan running off, before turning back to her book.
"Yeowch," Bailey said in shock. "What a diva."
"Well, that's actually just a swan thing," Danny replied with a shrug. "Still, I highly doubt she would gain anything from stealing your vegetables. And then there's Huckle Marsh", he said pointing to a well-dressed muskrat. "He…"
"Wait, wait, wait, wait" Warren interrupted. "Did you say Huckle Marsh? He's one of the best gardeners this side of the forest, and the grand marshal for the Crop Busters Competition! One-Eyed Jack Beaver, you're a genius!"
"Yeah! You couldn't have led with him?" Brenda said.
"Oh yeah! Your dad won several of the 1st prize ribbons for that, hasn't he?" Danny said. "I guess it's a good thing they discontinued the contest, because he wouldn't be able to enter it now." Danny chuckled, but slowly stopped as Warren and his sisters stared at him unamused. "Eh, not that it's a good thing his vegetables were stolen", he nervously replied.
"He knows every master gardener in the forest, so maybe he can lead us to the culprit!" Warren said eagerly, before starting to walk toward Mr. Marsh. Danny stepped in his way. "Woah, woah, woah, I'm afraid you might wanna kill the motor on that one, Ace. You see, there was a reason the Crop Busters stopped being held, and frankly, Mr. Marsh doesn't like to reflect on that reason at all. So much so, he's never told anyone what it was. Even bringing up the issue of vegetables can put him in a… bit of a mood."
"A mood?" Warren said with disbelief. "Mr. Marsh is one of the most mild-mannered animals in the forest. I'm sure if we're respectful, he won't be afraid to come forward. Come on, sisters!"
With cheerful and polite grins on their faces, though in Brenda's case, a forced one, the five siblings approached Mr. Marsh as he went along on his late morning stroll in the park. "Howdy, Mr. Marsh!" they all chimed together.
"Well, cut my cattails!" Mr. Marsh hollered with eyes wided. "If it isn't a fraction of the Loud clan!
How've you half-pints been doing?"
"Fantastic, sir!" Warren replied. "Quite punctual!" Bethany followed. "Just knockin' them out of the park!" Bailey chanted. "Another day in quote-unquote ''paradise'''', sighed Bella. "Eh, fine I guess", Brenda grumpily muttered.
"Stupendous!" Mr. Marsh replied cheerfully. "Haven't seen your parents in quite some time either. What are they up to these days?"
The five Louds kept smiling, then started to chuckle nervously. None of them were sure how to approach Mr. Marsh with this situation. "Well... you see sir", Warren muttered. "Seeing as how it's, well… that time of year..."
"September?" Mr. Marsh said. "Ah, yes! Lovely month, isn't it? The leaves are looking prettier every day! So are they raking leaves the day away yet?"
"Well… no" Warren slowly replied. "Actually… seeing as how it's that time of year…"
"Ugh! For the love of carrots!" Brenda couldn't take it anymore. "Someone has taken our dad's vegetables, and we're looking to see who might have done it, and we're wondering if you can give us any clues?!"
"Oh…" Mr. Marsh uttered in shock. Brenda received some furious glares from her siblings. "Jeez, sorry, but we were running out of time with Warren's hemming and hawing!"
"Well, thanks to you, Mr. Marsh may not want to help us now!" Bethany retorted.
"Now hold on there youngsters!" Mr. Marsh interjected. "There's no reason to start bickering. So what's this about your dad, again?"
Warren sighed. He had no choice but to be straight with Mr. Marsh now. "Well sir, our dad's vegetables all went missing right at harvest time, and I understand you don't like to be part of these situations, but we really need your help in figuring out where they might be."
After hearing Warren's plea, Mr. Marsh replied firmly," You're darn tootin' about that I'm afraid. I've put the days of veggie growing behind me years ago. Right now I'm even following a strict diet of shellfish!"
"But why?" Bailey asked. "You were a top-shelf gardener, and the Crop Busters was the hit of the season every year! What could have happened?"
"I really wish I could tell you kiddos", Mr. Marsh said solemnly, "but even discussing it is too hard for me to bear."
"We understand sir," Warren said with reverence, "but can you at least try to help us in the right direction? Our dad would greatly appreciate it if the great Huckle Marsh helped to find his missing veggies."
Mr. Marsh looked into the pleading eyes of Warren, then he turned his head thoughtfully and pondered hard. "Hmmm… well, your dad was indeed a fine gardener, so who am I to let a fellow Crop Buster down?"
"So you'll help then?" Warren and his sisters smiled hopefully.
"Of course I'll help y'all out!" Mr. Marsh said with gusto.
"Woohoo!" chanted the Loud siblings.
"But we best get a move on", Mr. Marsh insisted. "Standing around here ain't gonna accomplish anything. Just give me a rundown on what happened and I'll see what I can do from there."
"Not a problem," Bethany proclaimed. "I have the entire morning events listed down right here!"
As the group made their way further down the trail, Danny ran up next to Warren."Holy oaks, Ace! I never would have expected you to turn him around just like that."
"Just goes to show you, Jack", Warren replied, "all you need is to be honest and respectful to get the right people on your side."
"Hmm…" Danny thought out loud. "I wonder if that would work for Betty".
"What's that?" Warren wondered. "Nothing," Danny quickly said defensively. The crew and their newfound helper continued their hunt, unaware of a suspicious character watching them from the bushes...