"What the-?!" Carmen and Addie looked at the plastic lemur foot in utter confusion.
"Ok… now we know that the next clue is in the lemur exhibit, but how do we get in?" Carmen asked. Addie scanned her surroundings thoughtfully, a flipper to her beak. She then gasped and smiled, and waddled as quickly as she could toward a bush of bamboo.
"Help me with this, please?" Addie pleaded as she pulled on a stick of the plant. With Carmen's help, they got a single stick from the ground.
"What's this for?" She asked.
"You'll see." Addie slid on her belly towards the lemur habitat with the stick of bamboo dragging behind her. When the sisters reached the brick wall, they immediately stopped.
"So what's your big plan to get us over there?" Carmen asked.
"Do you still have that plastic lemur foot with you?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Just in case we need it." Addie shrugged. She took the bamboo and aimed it toward the wall.
"Hang on to the end of the bamboo." Carmen obeyed.
"Now run!"
"What?" Before Carmen had time to think, the two were running straight at the wall.
"What the heck are you thinkin-" Before Carmen could finish her sentence; Addie planted the bamboo firmly on the ground an inch away from the wall. The stick bent over, and flung Carmen and Addie over the wall and onto Julien's bouncy-bounce. The sisters were wide eyed with shock, and then began laughing hysterically.
"That was awesome!" Carmen shouted before Addie covered her mouth with a flipper to keep her quiet. Too late. Mort was awake, and immediately spotted the plastic lemur foot.
"De FEET!" Mort darted at the penguins, or rather, the ones in possession of a replica of Julien's foot. The penguins screamed and tussled off the bouncy- bounce, and away from Mort, but Mort was on their tail, and in great desire to have the replica. Addie glanced back at Mort and noticed a collar around his neck with the key jingling around.
"Carmen! The key!" Addie pointed out. Carmen watched Mort, and noticed that his eyes were fixed on the foot.
"I have a plan! Addie, take a breather, I have this under control."
"Got it." Addie slid away from the scene, and Carmen climbed up on Julien's throne.
"Hey, Mort! You want the foot right?" She teased, waving the foot before him.
"FEEEETT!" Mort jumped as forcefully as his little legs could take him. Carmen found her opportunity and dove at Mort.
"And this little piggy went to the zoo!" Carmen joked when she used the foot to karate-kick Mort back at the ground, knocking him unconscious.
"Sorry I had to do that, buddy." She said as she unbuckled the collar and took the key.
"Well done!" Addie complimented.
"But you know we could have just asked him to trade the key for the foot." Addie said.
"Are you kidding? That creature went ballistic! There was no way we could have gotten the opportunity to speak with him, let a lone catch out breath without getting tackled!" Carmen shouted.
"True." Addie agreed. "Is it me, or are the lemurs really deep sleepers?"
"Addie, I expected you of all people to understand this. Julien hates physical labor, as well as waking up and seriously needs his beauty sleep, and Maurice would be exhausted from waiting on his every whim. Mort was the only one who woke up because he's always hyper." Carmen explained.
"I solve puzzles, not personalities." Addie retorted.
"Whatever, Miss Anti-social. Come on, I think I passed the crate over at the plastic volcano." Carmen said as the two approached and opened the crate to reveal a pearl.
_
"A pearl?" Kowalski questioned. Where on Earth could Skipper have gotten a pearl?
"Marlene found it while trying to open one of her oysters. She suggested it would be a bit more difficult clue," Skipper replied. The other three watched the recruits' next actions anxiously.
_
"Well, puzzle-solver?"
"Pearls come from oysters. The question is, who eats oysters?" Thankfully Addie took the time earlier that day to list the animals that inhabited the zoo on her notepad.
"The Asian Otter, of course! Come on, it's just a few feet over." Addie said as she and Carmen climbed over the volcano, jumped to the ground, and rolled over at the last second to absorb the impact of the fall.
Once they got in, they gently submersed themselves in the water to avoid making splashes, or any other sounds.
"Ok, if I'm right, all we have to do is open any oysters we can find. The clue should be in there." Addie said. But when they looked down at the bottom of the water tank, they found themselves surrounded by shellfish. Carmen released a groan.
"Seriously?"
"We mind as well start now." Addie swam to the nearest oyster and forced it open.
"Nothing." Carmen opened several at once, and still no clue. Fruitless effort went on for fifteen minutes, and all they achieved was getting themselves riled up. They went up for air and-
"Ow!" Carmen was hit on the head with something. It was… a fish?
"Who would hit me in the head with a fish?" Carmen asked in disbelief.
"Wait a minute… that's it!" Addie said excitedly, getting out of the water.
_
"Aw Marlene, you're supposed to have them figure it out themselves!" Skipper lectured on the walkie-talkie.
"It was just a little push, Skipper. Come on, they've been at it for fifteen minutes." Marlene replied.
"It appears they've figured it out." Private said from the periscope. Rico mumbled in disappointment, thinking that this clue was pretty easy. O well. They had to mess up some time.
_
"Aw man, I feel dumb. Otters eat oysters. They were referring to the food bowl." Addie said. The duo made their way to the otter's food bowl, and sure enough, there was the key. And the crate was… nowhere to be seen.
"But the only place we haven't checked was-" Carmen paused as a loud snore echoed through the otter's private quarters.
"No way!" Addie's habit kicked in again. "Going into our neighbor's habitats without permission is bad enough, but I refuse to enter someone's private room and searching through their belongings for some stupid obstacle course!" Addie crossed her flippers over her chest and took a seat near the water.
"Come on, Addie, it's not as bad as you make it out to be. We're just running in and out, it's no problem!" Carmen said.
"Regardless of time capacity, it's still intrusion." Addie snapped bitterly. Carmen, shocked by her sister's sudden change in character, took a step back.
"Fine. But since I have possession of the key, I'll go in and search for the crate." Carmen said.
"It's your decision. You have free will, and I know better than to attempt to persuade the most stubborn member of the family." Addie replied, turning away. Carmen sighed. 'There's no way we're related', she thought as she entered the room. The first thing hat caught Carmen's attention was how nicely decorated the room was. The walls were covered with paintings and all sorts of other artistic designs. Another loud snore from the otter snapped Carmen back into reality. She searched about quietly, able to tell immediately that the otter is not a morning person.
To Carmen's utter disappointment, she found zip-zero, nada. No crate to be seen anywhere. But before she made her leave, Carmen noticed the edge of some sort of opening sticking out from under a rug. She removed the rug and before her was a sewer tunnel, or a drainage system blocked off by a barred lid. And wouldn't you know it? Between the iron bars and with the precious little light the seeped into the room, Carmen could make out the features of a box. The crate! With a hard tug, Carmen lifted the lid and dragged it to the side. She unlocked and opened the crate to reveal a note, or a code of some sort. Great. Of all the clues, it had to be in a written language, which only Addie can break. As Carmen put everything back the way it was, she hoped that Addie wasn't too upset that she wouldn't finish the course.
'Ah, the curse of being an animal with no human education.' She thought. How Addie learned to read was still shrouded in mystery. All Carmen really remembers was the day Addie returned from a research facility with her first book shielded within her flippers. This was before she learned that stealing was a 'sin' as Addie put it. Even though theft had saved their family's lives from starvation on more than one occasion, Addie refused to do anything that was considered 'morally wrong', even if it meant risking her life. Carmen didn't understand what goes through her sister's head. Most of the time she didn't even bother with it. Shaking the memory from her mind, Carmen found herself back outside.
"I told you it was going to be quick, o but do you listen? No~!" Carmen nagged. Addie rolled her eyes. Sometimes she couldn't believe how immature Carmen was.
"The next clue is written… do you think…?" Carmen handed the paper over to Addie who stared at it thoughtfully.
"It's a puzzle. See? At the top of the paper is the word, 'kicks'. Below the word is a horizontal line, and below the line is an arrow pointing down." Addie said.
"So can you break it?"
"Kicks, line, below? No." Addie thought aloud. "Kicks over down? Kicks over below?" She began to pace. "Kicks down under!" She said excitedly.
"Meaning?"
"Down under' refers to Australia. I believe 'kicks' refers to a kangaroo. Next stop is the kangaroo exhibit!" Addie said as she headed her way to Joey's area with Carmen right behind her.