Monday morning rolled around. Drake, Launchpad, Gosalyn, and Bushroot were all sitting at the kitchen table. Gosalyn was shoveling Sugar Coated Wacky-O's into her mouth. Drake was skimming the morning paper while drinking his morning cup of coffee. Launchpad was sitting there, twiddling his thumbs and whistling a little. Bushroot was just sitting there, nervously drumming his fingers on the table. Other than that, it was pretty quiet. The quiet was broken by a knock on the backdoor.
"I'll get it," Launchpad said, and he got up. He opened the door, and saw Gosalyn's best friend, Honker Muddlefoot, standing there.
"Hiya, Honk-Man," Launchpad said. "Come on in."
"Thanks, Launchpad," Honker said, as he came into the house. He walked into the kitchen.
"Come on, Gosalyn," he said. "Mrs. Wysmann is assigning science project partners today. We don't want to be late."
"Wanna bet?" Gosalyn grumbled. She put her spoon back in her cereal bowl, picked up her backpack from the floor.
"Dad, do I have to go to school?" she asked. "I bet I could learn more about science here than ever at school!"
"Nice try," Drake said.
Gosalyn grumbled, and walked out the back door with Honker. Seconds later, the door flew open, and Honker and Gosalyn reappeared.
"That's . . . . . he's . . . . you've . . . ." Honker stammered nervously.
"Yeah," Gosalyn said. "I know. I'll explain on the way to school."
"Go on, you two," Drake said, waving them off. "You'll be late for school!"
Gosalyn and Honker left. Once they were gone, Drake got up, walked towards the coffee pot, and poured himself another cup.
"So . . . ." Bushroot said, trying to make small talk. "What do you do, Mr. Mallard?"
"Huh?" Drake asked.
"What do you do? Where do you work?"
"Oh. Uhhhh . . . . errrmmm . . . . I'm sort of . . . . in between jobs right now . . . ."
"Oh."
Drake swallowed, and then raced for the door.
"Come on, Launchpad," he said. "Let's . . . . uhhh . . . . . go do something."
"Oh," Launchpad said. "Errr, sure D . . . . Drake. Sure."
And with that, Drake and Launchpad raced out the door. Bushroot sighed, and stared out the kitchen window.
"Alone again," he said. "Naturally."
Elsewhere in St. Canard, Negaduck had called another meeting of the Fearsome Five . . . . . or rather, now the Fearsome Four.
"Here's my plan," he said to them. "We're going to find Bush Breath, and find out what he's up to. Then . . . . . we'll get rid of him like the weed he is!"
"Tired of those pesky weeds?" Liquidator asked. "Then try Negaduck! Guaranteed to make your life weed free!"
"But how are we going to find Bushroot?" Megavolt asked.
"You, Quackerjack, and I will check that greenhouse of his," Negaduck said. "Liquidator, go through the pipes. Check every place in the city, and then some! I want that bush and I want him now!"
"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays The Liquidator from the swift completion of Negaduck's orders!" Liquidator shouted, and he dove into a nearby drain in order to begin his search.
Meanwhile, Darkwing and Launchpad were driving around the city in the Ratcatcher, looking for evil doers doing . . . . . well, doing evil. While they were riding around, something on the Ratcatcher started beeping.
"What's that, DW?" Launchpad asked.
"That's my special Darkwing Evil Doer Detector! It's detecting an evil doer doing evil somewhere in St. Canard! Come on, LP! Let's get dangerous!"
Darkwing put the pedal to the metal and sped off in the direction his Evil Doer Detecter was indicating. It led him and Launchpad straight for Bushroot's greenhouse.
"Hey, DW, look at that!" Launchpad shouted. "It's Negaduck, Megavolt, and Quackerjack! Think they're looking for Bushroot?"
"Hmmm, could be," Darkwing said. "Or it could be a trick! But whatever the case, let's get in there!"
As Darkwing and Launchpad were about to jump into action, Negaduck, Megavolt, and Quackerjack were tearing apart the greenhouse. Megavolt was zapping plants right and left, Quackerjack was using two pairs of his toy teeth on them, and Negaduck was slicing and dicing all over the place with his chainsaw.
"We know you're in here Bushy!" Quackerjack called out in a singsong voice. "Come out, come out wherever you aaarrrrrre!"
"I am the terror that flaps in the night!" a familiar voice shouted, as a puff of blue smoke appeared in front of a broken window. "I am the aphid who devours your roses! I am Darkwiiiiing Duck!"
"Figures he'd show up," Megavolt grumbled.
"He always has to spoil the fun!" Quackerjack whined.
"Shut up, you two!" Negaduck shouted, turning off his chainsaw for the time being. "Scram, Dipwing! This is between me and the Bush. Wherever the heck he is!"
"Yeah, we're gonna cook some vegetables!" Megavolt shouted. "But how about some fried duck first?"
Megavolt pointed his finger at Darkwing, and shot a volt at his tail feathers.
"Yeeeouuuuuccchhh!" Darkwing shouted.
"Whoo hoo hoo hoo!" Quackerjack laughed, as he unleashed a set of his toy teeth. "It's plaaaayyyytiiiiiime!"
The set of teeth chomped into Darkwing's foot.
"Yowtch!" Darkwing shouted, and he began jumping up and down clutching his foot.
"I'd love to stay," Negaduck said. "But we've got some weeding to do. Pack it in, boys. Bush Breath isn't here!"
Negaduck, Megavolt, and Quackerjack left the greenhouse in shambles. But before they left, Quackerjack unleashed several sets of toy teeth at Darkwing and Launchpad.
"Ouch! Ohch! Eech! Ooch!" Darkwing shouted as the teeth chomped into him. Then he pulled out his gas gun and fired it. A stream of chocolate fudge flew out of it, and the teeth retreated.
"Chocolate fudge?" Launchpad asked.
"Of course," Darkwing said. "This stuff'll give ya monster cavities! You'll be at the dentist 'til the cows come home from the cavities you get from this stuff! Come on, LP. Let's go."
Later in the afternoon, Gosalyn and Honker returned to the Mallard home, with three paper cups filled with potting soil.
"This is got to be the most boring science project in the entire world," Gosalyn grumbled. "Who wants to plant seeds and see how they grow with different kinds of music? Snore city!"
"I don't think that's so bad, Gosalyn," Honker said. "My mom says different types of music can affect the way plants grow."
"I say we ask an expert," Gosalyn said. She and Honker went to the kitchen. Bushroot was standing at the kitchen window, looking outside.
"Hey, Bushroot!" Gosalyn shouted.
"Yipe!" Bushroot shouted, nearly jumping straight to the ceiling.
"What's the matter, nervous?" Gosalyn asked.
"A little," Bushroot admitted. "I'm kind of afraid Negaduck's going to find out where I'm hiding."
"Oh," Gosalyn said. "Well . . . . think you could settle something for us? Does certain types of music affect the growth of plants?"
"Sure it does," Bushroot said. "Especially soft music. Plants don't care much for loud music like that heavy metal stuff."
Gosalyn didn't say anything. She just took one of the cups and put it on the table. Honker had the other two, and set them on the table as well.
"So how do you want to do this?" Honker asked.
"I don't know," Gosalyn said. "I don't know anything about plants!"
"What are you guys doing?" Bushroot asked, walking over.
"It's a project for school," Honker explained. "We're supposed to take these three lima beans and observe their growth, and we're supposed to give two them exactly half an hour of music a day, but it has to be different kinds of music. The third isn't supposed to be exposed to any kind of music."
"Sounds like my kind of project," Bushroot commented.
"It would," Gosalyn said. "Hey, while you're over there, could you get some water for our beans?"
"Sure," Bushroot said. He grabbed a cup from the counter, and filled it with water from the sink. Then he brought it over to the table. He didn't notice a drip in the sink.
And that drip was named The Liquidator. He was investigating the pipes of St. Canard, and he happened upon the sink of the Mallard's household. He watched as Bushroot gave Gosalyn and Honker some tips about their project, and then left to report this to Negaduck. Moments later, he reached his destination.
"Have I got a once in a lifetime offer for you!" Liquidator shouted, coming out of the sink.
"This had better be good," Negaduck growled.
"It is!" Liquidator shouted. "For a limited time only, our fellow Fearsome Fiver can be found in beautiful downtown St. Canard suburbia, at five-three-seven Avian Way! Now's your chance to be the first supervillian on your block to mulch our fine feathered traitor! Don't delay, act now!"
"You know, your advertising spiel gets old after awhile," Megavolt grumbled.
"Five-three-seven Avian Way," Negaduck said. "All right. Here's what we'll do. Megavolt and Quackerjack, go do something to keep Dipwing Dork busy. I don't want the likes of him in my way! Liquidator, you come with me. We've got some pruning to do."