Editor's Note: Hey guys! I made a few adjustments to my previous chapters, the major one being added descriptions to each Loud sister to make it easier to tell them apart. This was an afterthought that I felt would be helpful to those struggling with figuring out who's who.
"Saturday, the 27th of September, 16 after the hour of 9:00 a.m. It was at this moment in time the Loud sisters and their lone brother trod through the forest in search of their father's missing vegetation. The journey is probably fraught with danger, but the stalwart siblings continue forward boldly and daringly!" Birdie was narrating epically out loud as Team Two headed down the west path, but her sisters just looked at her in confusion and worry.
"Uh... come again, dude?" Barbara responded.
"Sorry", Birdie giggled. "I like to speak in literary terms during moments like this."
"Well, do you have to use words like "danger"?" Blair said with discomfort. "I don't think I'm wearing the proper dress for that."
"No need to worry, Blair," Birdie reassured her sister, "I'm just paraphrasing from a mystery/adventure book I've been reading: "Lance Leporid and the Disappearance of Woody Chuck's Wood." She displayed the book she had in her hands. "It's mostly just fiction, though."
"That's too bad", Bebe, the clownish sister piped in, "because that sounds like a pretty hopping adventure. Ha ha ha ha!" All of the sisters groaned at that pun.
"My heart really breaks for Dad right now", Belinda, the cupid sister said, clutching her chest. "Is there any way we can help him find his beloved veggies?"
Birdie peered into her book and flipped through a few pages. "Well, if we were to imitate Lance Leporid, we could start by thinking over who would have the strongest motive for stealing them. Anyone have any ideas?"
The five sisters thought hard for a few seconds. "Well, what about Mr. Goose next door?" Barbara stated. "He's always honking about how Dad's gardening causes so much noise, at least whenever he's not yelling about my guitar playing."
"Hmm…" thought Birdie. "Well, Mr. Goose may be cranky, but I don't think he would go so far as to steal everything from Dad's garden. If anything, he may have been waiting for the garden to get harvested so he could finally be free of the noise. Any other suggestions? Try to think a little bigger." A few more seconds passed as the sisters pondered again.
"Wait!" Bebe suddenly said. "Since Dad was in the Crop Busters before, what about one of the other competitors?"
"Of course!" said Birdie, "The motive is perfect; a bitter rival seeks vengeance by stealing from the winning contestant!"
"You did it, Bebe! I could just hug you right now!" Belinda squealed before giving Bebe a bear hug, until she was suddenly sprayed by her sister's flower squirter. "Woop, sorry. I guess your wet behind the ears now. Ha ha ha ha!" The sisters groaned again, while Belinda shook the water off her face and wrung out her ears.
"So, like, who are we talking about?" Blair asked.
"Oh, that's easy," Birdie said. "The runner-up for the Crop Busters for eight consecutive years: Martin Hutcherson!" The rest of the sisters gasped in response.
"Dude, that guy hated Dad's guts!" Barbara exclaimed. "He was always trying to beat Dad every year no matter what. I remember at the end of the final competition last year, he told Dad, "You may have outgrown me for eight years, but one day I'll outgrow you, when you least expect it!""
"Well, you don't get any more obvious than that", said Bebe.
"Precisely," replied Birdie. "Now we just need a way to track the prime suspect. Anybody know where Martin Hutcherson may be?
All of the sisters gave unsure answers. "You got me, dude," said Barbara. "Sorry", shrugged Belinda. "Not sure, seriously", replied Bebe. "Wait, who's Martin Hutcherson?" asked a confused Blair.
"Hmm, well let's see what Lance Leporid would do in this situation," said Birdie, opening her book and skimming through pages. "Mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm, aha!"
"Yeah?" the other four sisters said anxiously.
"It says here that Lance would continue forward until he found what he was looking for!" replied Birdie. The sisters briefly glanced at one another. "So, what does that mean exactly?" asked Belinda.
"It means we keep walking until the signs pointing to Hutcherson's whereabouts become clear," Birdie replied. "Onward, my sisters!" The other four were uncertain, but they followed their bookish sister further down the trail. They continued on for five minutes, with nothing to report. "Well, I haven't seen anything yet", said Bebe, "it seems the quest for the vegetables might be fruitless. Ha ha ha ha!"
"Yeah I have to agree with Bebe on that one", Barbara sighed, "I don't think we're getting anywhere with this. How can we be so sure we'll find anything on Hutcherson going this way?"
"Patience is the key to the door of success!" Birdie exclaimed. "Just at least a hundred more steps and the answers shall present themselves."
All of the sisters groaned at Birdie's remark. "Well, I might as well get good ol' Stringer tuned up", Barbara said, pulling her acoustic guitar off her back. She turned the tuners on her strings, and was getting ready to strum, until she heard another faint strum. Her ears stood erect after hearing it. "Woah, did you guys hear that?"
"Yeah," responded Blair. "You might wanna keep tuning that, because I couldn't hear it too well".
"No, that wasn't me dude", said Barbara, before pointing. "It's coming from that direction." The five of them followed the strumming in the distance. It progressively got louder and louder until they found a lone raccoon sitting on a tree stump playing the guitar. The sisters were amazed, but especially Barbara. The raccoon was so into his music, he didn't even hear the sisters approaching. Barbara walked up to him, "Woah, those are some awesome chops you got there!"
The raccoon briefly stopped and looked at Barbara for a few seconds. "Thank you, kind rabbit gal", he responded, "but if you don't mind, I prefer to be left alone to bask in the musical essence." He went back to strumming his guitar intensely, before Birdie interrupted him again. "While we... sort of understand, sir, we would really appreciate it if…"
"Ah, ah, ah", the raccoon stopped Birdie mid-sentence, "again I say, please leave this cat to play in peace." He began to strum again. "Cat?" said a confused Blair. "But you're a raccoon."
As the raccoon continued to play his music, the sisters sighed together. They weren't going to get anywhere very soon with him. Just then, Barbara pitched in, "Don't worry dudes, I got just the tabs to get on this guy's level!" She whipped out her guitar, walked back up to the raccoon, and strummed a few tabs on her guitar. The raccoon gazed at her with fascination as she played, then responded by playing the same tabs. This repeated on and on for roughly a minute, with each player strumming their guitar faster and faster. The remaining four Louds watched with awe at this display, until both players ended their duet with a loud "STRUM".
"Woohoo, bravo!" cheered the Loud sisters. The raccoon hopped off his tree stump and shook Barbara's hand. "Well, Miss Rockin' Rabbit, looks like you managed to get on Orville's good side! What can I do for you fine hares?"
"Well, long story short, brah, we're looking for a rabbit named Martin Hutcherson," said Barbara. "We believe he may be linked to our family's missing garden," Birdie followed up.
"Hutcherson. Missing garden," Orville pondered over these words carefully. "Hmm, I think I happen to know just the place for you to check out, if you'll just follow the ringed-tail." He led the five down a brief trail, leading to a large market square with booths at every corner.
"Woah!" The Louds stared in amazement at this sight. There were shoppers everywhere and tons of fruits, vegetables, and other wares on display. "The farmer's market!" squealed Belinda. "And it's booming this year!" said Barbara.
"Oh yes, bunny friends!" replied Orville. "This happens to be my top hangout spot every fall during harvest season, with fresh farm-raised products out the wazoo! If there's anywhere this Martin Hutcherson fellow might be with your family's crops, it ought to be here."
"Of course," Birdie exclaimed. "That thief must have robbed our garden to make a profit off of dad's vegetables as payback for being beaten every year!"
"That must mean he's in one of these booths!" replied Barbara. "Or he's over there", Bebe pointed out. Indeed, there was a rabbit, dressed in a vest and tie, with a sour expression on his face, examining some tomatoes at a booth.
"Aha! The prime suspect has been detected!" shouted Birdie. "Wow, Orville, you really rock in more ways than one!" Barbara said. "Yeah, I could just give you a hug!" Belinda cried, spreading her arms wide, until Orville stopped her. "Ah, ah, ah, you don't hug Orville, Orville hugs you," he said, before squeezing Belinda in a bear hug. After being let go, an enamored Belinda sighed loudly.
"Well, happy to be of assistance," said Orville, "but I've got a market to admire. I'll catch you gals on the flipside!" As he strolled off, the Louds gave their thanks and goodbyes, "Bye!" Later, Orville! Thank you!" Belinda sighed again, "Isn't he such a charmer?"
"Okay, so we got our guy," said Barbara, "now what do we do?"
"Well, according to Lance Leporid", replied Birdie, "the best course of action would be to charge at the villain in blind fury. On my mark!" The five Louds prepared to charge with angry expressions on their faces. "3, 2, 1, attack!" The Louds started running toward Martin screaming at the top of their lungs. Martin turned to see what the commotion was, and saw five furious rabbits coming at him. "What the?!" Before he had time to respond, he was tackled and knocked to the ground, then pounded on and bitten by the Louds. Everyone stared in shock and confusion while this was going on
"Alright Hutcherson, give us the goods right now!" Birdie yelled. "Yeah, brah, we're onto you!" replied Barbara. "Yeah! Wait, why are we doing this again?" said Blair.
"Martin!" screamed a female rabbit, carrying a basket alongside a small group of kids. "What is going on?!" The Louds stopped beating on Martin. "I'll tell you what's going on, ma'am", said Birdie. "This rabbit is the prime suspect in the disappearance of our dad's garden!"
Martin leaned upward and wiped the dirt off his face. "What the Sam Hill are you talking about?! Wait, I know you guys, you're Loud's daughters! I should have known."
"We certainly are!" said Bebe, before pointing at Martin. "And we know you took our dad's garden to get back at him!" "Yeah!" the others agreed.
"What?!" Martin stood up. "That's what happened to our garden too!"
This revelation hit the five sisters like a ton of bricks. "I-I'm sorry, what?" Birdie responded.
"Yeah, we got up at the crack of dawn, ready to harvest our superior garden, but there was nothing to be seen. I'm here with my family trying to scrounge the market for some low-quality produce just to keep us well-fed!" "Hey!" shouted the offended vendor.
"So, you weren't trying to sell dad's vegetables just now?" asked Barbara.
"Of course not!" replied an irritable Martin. "Loud may have undeservedly won each Crop Buster, but I ain't dishonorable!" He groaned loudly, "Come on, Helen, kids. Let's keep on shopping." Martin and his family started walking away. The Louds exchanged guilty looks with one another. They ran up to Martin.
"Wait! Mr. Hutcherson", Birdie cried. "What is it now?!" "We're sorry that we jumped to conclusions like that, and we're sorry we got a little rough with you."
"A little?" scoffed Martin. "That's a laugh."
"But what if we tried to help you find your vegetables while we search for ours? I'm sure there must be a connection to the missing two gardens." "Yeah dude," replied Barbara, "it's the least we can do for you at this point."
"Mmm…" Martin thought this over hard. As hesitant as he was, this may be his only chance at reclaiming his vegetables. "Alright, deal, but only because I wish to find my crops safe and sound. Helen, take the kids, I'll have our livelihood back by this evening."
The five Louds and their reluctant companion moved along through the marketplace, but the news of not one, but two missing gardens had all of their minds wondering; Who could have stolen them, were there any more missing, and most importantly, why were they stolen?