Matt Otterton was in tears when Ariel got to her desk in homeroom. Ariel was surprised; Matt usually had a smile on his muzzle most days. What could have gone worng? A glance at Kiki showed that her best pal was feeling the same way. Kiki approached the young otter, lay a hand on his shoulder, and asked, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"My dad..." Matt sniffed. "He's gone missing. He never came back from yoga yesterday... Mom's worried sick, Benji's convinced he's dead..."

Ariel interrupted, "That's crazy. He's probably got a job somewhere that he forgot to tell you about."

"He's a florist! Florists don't need to travel!" Matt snapped. "Besides, he never goes anywhere without telling us."

Ariel whispered, "Creatures, this is more serious than I thought."

"True dat," Kiki nodded assent. "True dat."

"Class? Class! Please take your seats so I can take attendance," called Ms. Trotter, the horse who taught tenth-grade homeroom, from her desk. The class let out a collective groan and shuffled to their assigned desks.

"So let me get this straight," Ariel said to her father. "Mr. Otterton makes fourteen missing mammals? Within two weeks?"

Mr. Hobbes nodded solemnly. "One of my reporters interviewed Chief Bogo, who claims it's the ZPD's top priority. He didn't have a lot of good things to say about Miss Hopps, though."

"The rabbit officer? What is he, crazy? She was top of her class!" Ariel argued.

Calvin commented, "It's probably cause she's a bunny and he's speciesist."

Mr. Hobbes ignored his son's vulgar comment and explained, "He doubts she's capable of all the duties of a full-fledged officer, relegating her to parking duty - hang on one second." Mr. Hobbes was interrupted by the classical ringtone on his phone.

"Allen Hobbes," he answered the phone, turning away from his family. "What? Put it in the next issue... yes, this is big. The public will love it... oh yes, the followup? Hmm? Yes, get a reporter to cover that story too... See you at the office... right, have a good evening. Bye." Hanging up the phone, he reported to his family, "According to this reporter, Miss Hopps caught the infamously infuriating Duke Weaselton..."

"You mean the guy we got the defective copy of Catlantis: The Lost Empire from?" Calvin clarified.

Ariel muttered under her breath, "Hey, I fixed that thing..."

Mr. Hobbes nodded and answered, "The very same. Rumor has it she had a blowout with Bogo about it, but has agreed to take on her first big case - finding Mr. Otterton. Do you think you could get some info from your classmate tomorrow?"

"Sure," Ariel shrugged. "I'm sure he'll be glad to hear about Judy. Oh, Mom, did Mrs. Lambstead like the get-well card Kiki and I made?"

Mrs. Hobbes shook her head. "She loved it, Ariel! She wrote a little letter and asked me to have you read it to your classmates tomorrow."

"Sounds good. Oh, I'll need to head to the pool sometime before the big meet this weekend..."

"How about you visit after school tomorrow?"

"Sounds good. Now if you'll excuse me, I got some writing denwork to do..."